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Prescribed, made obligatory, for you, when any of you is approached by death, that is, [by] its causes, and leaves behind some good, material possessions, is to make testament (al-wasiyyatu is in the nominative because of kutiba, and is semantically connected to the particle idhā, 'when', if the latter is adverbial; but if this latter is conditional, then it [al-wasiyyatu] indicates the response; the response to the [conditional] particle in, 'if', is, in other words, [implied to be] fa'l-yūsi, 'let him make testament'); in favour of his parents and kinsmen honourably, that is justly, not giving more than the allotted share of a third, nor preferring the richer person - an obligation (haqqan here emphasises the import of what has preceded) on those that fear, Allahu ta’ālā (this verse has been abrogated by the 'inheritance' verse [āyat al-mīrāth, see Q. 4:11] and by the hadīth: 'Do not make testament for one [already] inheriting', as reported by al-Tirmidhī).