The Inheritance and its Law
The Ruling of Inheritance
Inheritance among the Muslims is obligatory according to the Book (Al-Qur’an) and the Sunnah. Allah the Almighty said:
(There is a share for men and a share for women from what is left by parents and those nearest related, whatever the property be small or large, a legal share.) (4:7)
And He said:
(Allah commands you concerning your children‘s (inheritance): to the male, a portion equal to that of two females.) (4:11)
And His Messenger (SAW) said:
“Give the Fara‘idh (the shares of inheritance that are prescribed in the Qur‘an) to those who are entitled to receive it, and whatever is left is for the closest male relative (of the deceased).”
(Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
And He (SAW) said:
“Verily Allah has given everyone who has a right his right, so there is no bequeathal for the person who inherits.” (Abu Dawud and others of the Sunan compilers)
The Reason for Inheritance
Inheritance is not confirmed except for one of three reasons.
They are as follows:
1. An-Nasab (Family Relations): This means the relatives, and it is that the inheritor should be one of the parents of the deceased who leaves inheritance or his children or his kin, like his brothers and their children and his uncles and their children. This is due to the statement of Allah the Almighty:
(And to everyone, We have appointed heirs of that (property) left by parents and relatives.)(4:33)
2. An-Nikah (Marriage): This is the correct (valid) contract of marriage, even if there is no consummation and the two spouses have not yet been alone together. This is due to the statement of Allah the Almighty:
(And in that which your wives leave, your share is a half.) (4:12)
The two spouses also inherit from each other in a situation where a revocable divorce was pronounced, and also an irrevocable divorce if he (the husband) divorced her during an illness from which he died.
3. Al-Wala’: This is when a man frees a male or female slave and because of that, he has his (the slave’s) Wala’ (special relationship between the ex-slave and his manumitter). Therefore, if the manumitted slave dies and he has no one to inherit from him, the man who freed him inherits from him due to his manumitting him. This is due to the Prophet’s statement:
“The Wala’ is for the manumitter.” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
Things that Prevent Inheritance
In some cases, the reason for inheritance may be present, but something prevents it and thus the person does not inherit because of that preventive thing. These preventive things are as follows:
1. Disbelief: The Muslim relative does not inherit from the disbeliever, nor does the disbeliever inherit from his Muslim relative. This is due to the Prophet’s statement:
“The disbeliever does not inherit from the Muslim and the Muslim does not inherit from the disbeliever.” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
2. Murder: The murderer does not inherit from the person that he murdered. This is a punishment for him because of his crime if the murder was intentional. This is due to the Prophet’s statement:
“The murderer has no right to anything left by the murdered.”
(Ibn ‘Abdul-Barr, who graded it Sahih.)
3. Slavery: The slave does not inherit, nor is he inherited from, regardless of whether he is a totally owned slave or a slave that is not fully owned-like the slave who is partially owned, the slave that has a contract of manumission and the Umm-ul-Walad (the female slave who gives birth to the child of her master and thus she is set free upon his death). This is because all of these (that are not complete slaves) are still under the ruling of slavery. Some of the people of knowledge have excluded the partially owned slave from this ruling. They said, “He inherits and is inherited from according to the amount of his freedom.” This is due to the report from Ibn ‘Abbas that the Prophet (SAW) said:
“Concerning the slave who has been partially freed, he inherits and is inherited from according to the amount he has been freed.” (The author of Al-Mughni mentioned it.)
4. Fornication or Adultery: The child who is born as a result of fornication or adultery does not inherit from his father and his father does not inherit from him. Such a child only inherits from his mother, and she inherits from him, with his father having no inheritance rights. This is due to the Prophet’s statement:
“The child belongs to the (owner of the) bed and the adulterer gets the stone.”
(Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
5. Al-Li‘an (Divorce by Invoking Curse): The child of two spouses, who get a divorce by invoking the curse of Allah (regarding an accusation of adultery between them), does not inherit from his father who denies him and the father does not inherit from him. This is based upon analogy between the child and the child of adultery.
6. The Stillborn: The child that is born dead from its mother (stillborn), and it does not have a startling cry at its birth, does not inherit, nor do others inherit from it. This is due to the lack of life that is followed by death, by which inheritance is attained.
Conditions of Inheritance
The conditions for the correctness of inheritance are as follows:
The absence of any of the preventive things that have been previously mentioned, as the preventive things nullify inheritance.
The person who is inherited from must be deceased, even if he is “judged” as deceased. An example of this is when the judge rules that a person who is missing is dead. This is due to a consensus (Ijma’) that the living person is not inherited from.
The inheritor must be alive on the day of the death of the person who is leaving the inheritance. So, if one of a woman’s children dies and she has an unborn child in her womb, then this unborn child has the right to inherit from its brother (who died) if it is born alive. This is due to the fact that it was certainly alive (in the womb) on the day its brother’s death. If the woman conceived the baby after the death of its brother, the baby has no right to inherit from his brother who died, because he was not created (conceived) until after (the brother’s death).
Male Inheritors
The male inheritors are of three categories:
1. The husband. The husband inherits from his wife if she dies, even if he had pronounced a divorce on her, as long as she did not complete her waiting period (‘Iddah). If she completed her waiting period, he does not inherit from her.
2. The manumitter (who frees a slave) or his male relatives if he is not present (i.e., alive) at the time of the death of the freed slave.
3. The relatives, and they are the forefather’s relations, the offspring, and the kinfolk. The forefathers include the father, the grandfather, and any forefathers of the grandfather. The offspring include the son, the grandson, and other direct descendants no matter how far down the line. The kinfolk are the other relatives. They include the brothers and their children, no matter how far down they descend. It also includes the brothers of the same mother (i.e., who have different fathers). The distant relatives include the uncle and the son of the uncle (cousin), no matter how far down the family line they descend. It also makes no difference whether they are full-blooded. It also makes no difference whether they are full-blooded or only from the same father (i.e., having different mothers).
These are the male inheritors, and it is unimaginable that they will ever all be present (existent) to take a share in one inheritance. The is because some of them block off others. The father blocks off the grandfather and the half brothers from the same mother, and the son blocks off the brother, and the brother blocks off the uncle and so on. If they all are present (existent) to claim inheritance from a single inheritance, none of them inherit except for three: the husband, the son, and the father.
The Female Inheritors
1. The wife.
2. The female manumitter (who frees a slave)
3. The relatives: and they are of three categories. The parental women: and they are the mother and the grandmother on either the mother’s or the father’s side. The offspring: and they are the daughter, the son’s daughter (granddaughter) and any descending female grandchildren (i.e., through the males). The kin: and this is the female relatives, who is only the sister.
Note: The maternal and paternal aunts, the daughter’s daughter (granddaughter), the daughter’s son (grandson), the brother’s daughter (niece) and the uncle’s daughter (cousin) do not inherit at all.
An Explanation of the Shares of Inheritance
The designated shares of inheritance in the Book of Allah the Almighty, in Surah An-Nisa’ are six. Their explanation is as follows:
1. A Half: Five individuals inherit half, and they are as follows:
The husband, if the deceased wife did not have a son or a grandchild by her son, whether it is a male or female.
The daughter if she does not have a brother or sister or more (siblings). She does not inherit half unless she is alone (i.e., an only child).
The daughter of the son (granddaughter) if she is alone and there is no son of a son (grandson) along with her as well.
The full sister (from the same two parents) if she is alone, having no brother along with her, nor a father, nor a son, nor the son of a son (grandson).
The sister by the same father (but not the same mother) if she is alone and she does not have a brother along with her, nor a father, nor the son of a son (grandson).
2. A Fourth: Only two people inherit a fourth and they are the following:
The husband, if the deceased wife has a son or a grandchild by her son, whether it is a male or female.
The wife, if her deceased husband did not have a son, nor a grandchild by his son, whether it is a male or female.
3. An Eighth: Only one person inherits an eighth and it is the wife, and if there is more than one wife, they split it.
This is when the deceased husband has a son, or a grandchild by the son, whether it is a male or female.
4. Two Thirds: Four categories of people inherit two thirds:
Two or more daughters if there is no son, meaning they do not have a brother.
Two daughters of the son (granddaughters) or more if they are alone without there being a child (of the deceased), whether a male or a female, and no grandson by the son, who would be their brother.
Two full sisters or more if they are alone without there being a father, or any children, whether male or female (of the deceased), or a full brother.
Two sisters or more by the same father (i.e., not by the mother) if they are alone without any of those mentioned for two full sisters (as mentioned above), as well as not having a brother by their father.
5. A Third: Three people inherit a third and they are the following:
The mother, if the deceased does not have a child or grandchild by a son, whether male or female, nor a group of siblings, meaning two or more, whether they are males or females.
Brothers by the same mother, even if they are numerous, meaning two or more, and the deceased does not have a father or grandfather, nor a child or grandchild by a son, whether male or female.
The grandfather if he is with siblings (of the deceased). The third will be more abundant and plentiful for him if the number of siblings is more than two males (i.e., brothers) or four females (i.e., sisters).
Note about the Remaining Third:
1. If a woman dies and leaves behind only her husband, her father, and her mother, then her matter (of inheritance) is in six (shares). The husband receives half (of her inheritance), which is three (shares), her mother receives a third of remaining half, which is one (share) and her father receives the two remaining (shares) since he is the remaining male relative.
2. If a man dies and leaves his wife, his mother, his father and no one else, then the matter (of his inheritance) is in four (shares). The wife receives a fourth, which is one (share), the mother receives a third of what remains, which is one (share), and two remaining shares are for the father since he is the remaining male relative.
In both of these situations the mother does not inherit a third of what is left as inheritance. She only inherits a third of what remains of the inheritance that is left (i.e., after the other designated persons receive their shares.). this is how ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, ruled and these two situations became known as the ‘Umariyyatain (the two ‘Umar situations).
6. A Sixth: Seven people inherit a sixth and they are the following:
The mother, if the deceased has a child or a grandchild by a son, or he has a group of siblings, meaning two or more, whether males or females, and whether they are full-blooded or by the same father only or by the same mother only. It also makes no difference whether they are inheritors, or they are blocked from receiving any of the inheritance.
The grandmother, if the deceased does not have a mother, and she inherits from him alone if she is the only grandmother. If there is another grandmother with her on her same level (of family lineage), she divides it in half and shares it with her.
Note: The grandmother that is fundamentally considered in the inheritance is the mother of the mother (i.e., maternal grandmother). However, the mother of the father (i.e., the paternal grandmother) is only considered like the mother of the mother.
The father, who inherits from the deceased in any case, regardless of whether the deceased has a child or not.
The grandfather, who inherits from the deceased only if there is no father, because he takes the place of the father.
The sibling from the same mother (but not the same father), whether it is a male (half-brother) or female (half-sister). The half-sibling inherits from the deceased if he does not have a father or a grandfather or a child or a grandchild by a son, whether male or female. The is under the condition that the half brother or half sister by the same mother is alone (i.e., an only child) and does not have a sibling.
The daughter of the son (granddaughter) inherits from the deceased if she is with one daughter (of the deceased), and she does not have a brother or the son of her maternal uncle (her cousin), who is the same as her in level of kinship. It makes no difference whether there is one (granddaughter) or more. In the inheritance a sixth is for the daughter of the son (granddaughter) or his daughters.
The sister by the same father (but not the same mother) if she has a full-blooded sister and she does not have another brother by the same father, and (the deceased has ) no mother or grandfather or son or grandson by a son.