CHARLOTTETOWN – Dozens of people gathered at the Masjid Dar As-Salam mosque in Charlottetown Saturday, March 9, as the Muslim society offered a program to help refugees draw up wills for free, CBC reported.

“All of the families here are coming to us and asking, ‘Hey, how do we prepare our will, how do we protect our kids, how do we protect ourselves?'” Alhadi Abusneena, the president of the Muslim Society of P.E.I., said.

“You know their situation, they are refugees and all the people, they must help each other.”

As many refugees face language barriers and cannot afford legal fees to draw up a will, the Muslim society partnered with Danny Tweel, a Charlottetown lawyer, to do the service for free.

The idea came up to Abusneena after attending the funerals for the seven children who died following a fire that swept through the Halifax home of a Syrian refugee family last month.

Alhadi Abusneena is the president of the Muslim Society of P.E.I. (Brittany Spencer/CBC)

He wanted to create a more accessible way for people to protect their families.

“We sat together and we make the decision to prepare the wills for all the refugees to save their families,” he said.

Tweel was offered translation services to be able to help some families who had concerns about not having a will.

“They have come with limited means and resources, but it was important, he felt, that they have some instruction and understanding of preparing wills,” he said.

“We have the wills, they’ve been distributed and they’ve developed their schedules so what we’ll be doing is witnessing them and proving the wills,” Tweel said.

Members of the society assisted lawyer Danny Tweel by acting as translators and witnesses as he reviewed and proved the wills. (Brittany Spencer/CBC)

The day included making wills for about 40 families, giving them a little more piece of mind.

“As you can see their faces, they are very happy,” Abusneena said. “We appreciate the lawyer who’s helped us.”

Danny Tweel, a Charlottetown lawyer, offered his services to the Muslim Society of P.E.I. after the group told him several families had concerns about not having a will. (Brittany Spencer/CBC)

Although the law (Canadian as well as Islamic) does not say that making of the will is a must, by looking at the consequences of not having a will, it is necessary – both from legal aspect as well from the Shari`ah aspect.

When a person dies, he still retains the right to decide about up to one-third of his entire estate. But as far as the two-third is concerned, the deceased person loses the right to dispose of according to his wish. The two-third must be divided according to the shares specified by the Shari`ah.

The Messenger of Allah, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “It is the duty of a Muslim who has anything to bequest not to let two nights pass without writing a will about it.” (Sahih al-Bukhari)