THE APPLICATION OF MAQASID AL SYARIAH ON DETERMINANTS OF DECISION TOWARDS ESTATE PLANNING: A CONCEPTUAL STUDY

Abstract

Estate planning involves making plans for the transfer of estate after death. The estate includes cash, clothes, jewellery, cars, houses, land, retirement, investment, and savings accounts. More than 90 per cent of Malaysians have not made a will as estate planning is not widely practiced. Among the reasons are procrastination and lack of urgency. Several reasons, including beneficiary ignorance, the expense of estate planning, regulatory restrictions, and the conviction that proactive planning is superfluous, are blamed for this lack of participation in estate planning. Difficulties in the management process have also arisen from the Islamic estate administration process's shortcomings and delays, including the unpredictability of property distribution among heirs. As a result, there are a lot of assets that have gone unclaimed, neither trust funds nor will have been created, and there isn't much involvement in Islamic estate planning. They believe that only the rich need a will and they have to build up wealth before writing a will. This conceptual study explores how Maqasid al-Shariah principles can be applied to determine what factors influence estate planning decisions in Malaysia. The research aims to clarify how religious beliefs, cultural norms, legal considerations, and familial dynamics intersect to shape people's estate planning decisions, with a focus on Islamic jurisprudence and the ethical aspects of estate distribution. The results highlight how important it is to incorporate Maqasid al-Shariah principles into estate planning frameworks to guarantee the just and equitable distribution of wealth and assets in line with Islamic principles. The study's consequences encompass policy suggestions meant to encourage the harmonization of estate planning techniques with Maqasid al-Shariah's goals, consequently advancing social welfare and fair inheritance distribution in Malaysian society. This study lays the groundwork for future inquiries and interventions in this area by examining the complex interplay between Islamic jurisprudence and estate planning choices.