Most British Muslims have not written a will, and most assume it matters less than it does. The uncomfortable truth: if you die without one in England or Wales, the state distributes your estate under intestacy rules that were never designed with Islamic law in mind, and the result will almost certainly violate the faraid, the fixed inheritance shares set out in the Quran. No imam can fix it afterwards. A valid English will is the only instrument that makes Islamic inheritance happen in this country, and it can cost less than GBP 100. Service details below were verified on August 6, 2026.
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What faraid requires
Islamic inheritance law is unusually precise. The Quran fixes shares for defined heirs: spouses, parents, children and, in their absence, wider kin, with a son receiving twice a daughter's share, a widow taking one eighth where there are children (one quarter where there are none), a husband one quarter or one half correspondingly, and each parent one sixth where children exist. Up to one third of the estate, the wasiyyah, may be left freely to charity or to people who are not fixed heirs, but the remaining two thirds or more must flow to the Quranic heirs in their prescribed proportions. These are not suggestions; classical scholarship treats deliberate deviation as a serious wrong, and the verses concluding the inheritance passages in Surah an-Nisa are among the sternest in the Quran. Our wasiyyah guide covers the discretionary third in detail.
What English intestacy does instead
Die without a will in England or Wales and the Administration of Estates Act decides. A surviving spouse takes the personal possessions, a substantial fixed statutory legacy, and half of everything beyond it; children share the remainder equally, sons and daughters alike, and only at 18. Unmarried partners get nothing. Parents of a married deceased with children get nothing. An Islamically married but civilly unregistered spouse gets nothing, a trap that catches nikah-only marriages with grim regularity. Depending on family shape, the intestacy outcome can disinherit parents who are Quranic heirs, equalise sons and daughters contrary to faraid, or hand everything to a spouse where Islamic law would distribute it across the family. The state is not hostile to Islamic inheritance; it is simply running a different algorithm, and it runs by default.
The good news: English law lets you opt out
England and Wales have near-total testamentary freedom: with narrow exceptions, you may leave your estate however you wish, which means you may leave it exactly as the faraid prescribes. An Islamic will in this country is an ordinary, legally binding English will whose distribution clauses implement the Quranic shares, typically by formula rather than fixed amounts, so the document stays correct as your family grows and your heirs change. It also carries the other clauses every Muslim household needs: guardianship for minor children (see our guardianship guide), Islamic funeral and burial wishes, executor appointments, and the wasiyyah third for charity. The one systematic pressure point is inheritance tax, where honouring faraid on first death can cost the spousal exemption, a problem with real solutions covered in our IHT guide.
The market: three credible routes from GBP 98
| Service | Price | What you get | Named scholar? |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFG Wills | GBP 98 (trust-based GBP 348) | 20-minute online journey, solicitor drafting, Mufti sign-off, GBP 10 per year unlimited amendments | Yes, Mufti Billal Omarjee |
| Wahed Wills | GBP 125 (bespoke from GBP 900) | Online journey, specialist check, pay after preview, funeral wishes clause | Scholar-approved per Wahed, not named |
| Islamicwills.co.uk (Farani Taylor) | GBP 250 plus VAT (Pro GBP 350 plus VAT) | SRA-regulated solicitor drafting, fixed fee, free storage, in-person meeting on Pro | Not named; 30+ years specialisation |
All three draft for England and Wales only. IFG Wills is the price and disclosure leader, with 3,000+ wills handled and the reviewing Mufti named publicly; Wahed Wills offers the most buyer-friendly mechanics (pay only after previewing the completed will); Farani Taylor's service is the only one inside an SRA-regulated law firm. Our detailed comparison weighs them properly, and the estate planning page tracks the products side by side.
The traps that invalidate good intentions
- Nikah without civil marriage: an Islamically married spouse is a legal stranger under intestacy; a will naming them is the only protection
- Unsigned or badly witnessed documents: an English will needs your signature before two witnesses present together, and beneficiaries must not witness
- Joint tenancy: property owned as joint tenants passes automatically to the co-owner outside the will, bypassing faraid; severing the tenancy (an add-on at Farani Taylor, GBP 250 plus VAT) restores testamentary control
- Stale wills: divorce, remarriage, new children and new assets all change faraid outcomes; IFG's GBP 10 per year unlimited-amendment subscription exists for exactly this
- DIY templates that fix shares by name and amount rather than formula, freezing a family snapshot that faraid would redraw
- Scotland: all three leading services draft for England and Wales only; Scots law is a different system, covered in our Scotland guide
Pensions, insurance and everything the will does not catch
A common blind spot: significant wealth passes outside wills entirely. Workplace pension death benefits usually follow your nomination form, not your will; jointly held bank accounts pass by survivorship; life insurance written in trust pays its named beneficiaries. A faraid-compliant will with un-updated nominations still produces an un-Islamic distribution. The fix is administrative, not legal: align every nomination and beneficiary form with the same faraid logic as the will, and review them together. IFG's integration with its zakat calculator, which reuses the will's asset data for an automated annual zakat calculation, is a useful nudge toward treating the estate as one reviewed whole.
When to go beyond the online services
The GBP 98 to GBP 125 tier is built for straightforward estates. Step up to trust-based or solicitor-drafted work when any of these apply: your estate exceeds the GBP 325,000 nil-rate band and inheritance tax planning matters; you own business assets or foreign property; your family includes a blended structure, previous marriages or dependants needing protected provision; or you anticipate any challenge. IFG's trust-based will at GBP 348, Wahed's bespoke tier from GBP 900 and Farani Taylor's Pro plan at GBP 350 plus VAT (with its flexible life interest for the IHT-versus-faraid problem) are the escalation paths, and estates above GBP 2 million get specialist referral at IFG.
Compare providers in your state
See side-by-side comparisons of Shariah-compliant products, or let our matcher recommend the best options for your situation.
Do it this week
The fiqh position is uncomplicated: the Prophet, peace be upon him, said it is not right for a Muslim with anything to bequeath to let two nights pass without a written will. In England and Wales the barrier has fallen to twenty minutes and GBP 98, with a named Mufti's sign-off included. Write it, sign it properly before two witnesses, tell your executor where it lives, align your pension nominations, and diarise a review every few years. Every service detail above was verified August 6, 2026; compare the providers at HalalWallet's estate planning page.