Islamic inheritance jurisprudence
Encyclopedia
- This is a sub-article to Islamic economical jurisprudence and inheritanceInheritanceInheritance is the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, rights and obligations upon the death of an individual. It has long played an important role in human societies...
.
Islamic Inheritance jurisprudence is a field of Islamic Jurisprudence that deals with inheritance
Inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, rights and obligations upon the death of an individual. It has long played an important role in human societies...
, a topic that is prominently dealt with in the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
. It is often called Mīrāth, and its branch of Islamic law
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
is technically known as ''ʿulm al-farāʾiḍ . All Muslims are expected to follow and implement the rules of Islamic inheritance.
Historical background
Prior to Islam, and within the Arabian PeninsulaArabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula is a land mass situated north-east of Africa. Also known as Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent, it is the world's largest peninsula and covers 3,237,500 km2...
, the system of inheritance was confined to male descendants. Women not only did not have any share of inheritance, but they themselves were inheritable too. Siblings from the mother's side, like half-brothers or half-sisters, were completely excluded. Other Semitic
Semitic
In linguistics and ethnology, Semitic was first used to refer to a language family of largely Middle Eastern origin, now called the Semitic languages...
cultures also practiced primogeniture
Primogeniture
Primogeniture is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn to inherit the entire estate, to the exclusion of younger siblings . Historically, the term implied male primogeniture, to the exclusion of females...
, under which all property went to the eldest male child.
Inheritance and the Qur'an
The Qur'anQur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
introduced a number of different rights and restrictions on matters of inheritance, including general improvements to the treatment of women and family life. The Qur'an also presented efforts to fix the laws of inheritance, and thus forming a complete legal system. This development was in contrast to pre-Islamic societies where rules of inheritance varied considerably. Furthermore, the Qur'an introduced additional heirs that were not entitled inheritance in pre-Islamic times, mentioning nine relatives specifically of which six were female and three were male. The laws of inheritance in the Qur'an also included other male relatives, like the husband and half-brothers from the mother’s side, which were excluded from inheritance in old customs. The heirs mentioned in the Qur'an are the mother, father, husband, wife, daughter, uterine
Uterine
The word uterine can refer to different meanings:* relating to or near the uterus or womb* having the same mother, but different fathers, see matrilineality...
brother, full sister, uterine sister, and consanguine sister.
In general, the Qur'an improved the status of women by identifying their share of inheritance in clear terms. It also completely forbade the practice of inheriting widows.[4:19] Orientalist
Oriental studies
Oriental studies is the academic field of study that embraces Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology; in recent years the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Asian studies and Middle Eastern studies...
Joseph Schacht
Joseph Schacht
Joseph Schacht, born in Ratibor, 15 March 1902, died in Englewood, 1 August 1969, was a British-German professor of Arabic and Islam at Columbia University in New York. He was the leading Western scholar on Islamic law, whose Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence is still considered a centrally...
states that "this is not meant as a regular legal ordinance, but is part of the Qur'anic endeavor to improve the position of women." The Qur'an does not explicitly mention the shares of male relatives, such as the decedent's son, but provides the rule that the son's share must be twice that of the daughter's. Muslim theologians explain this aspect of inheritance by looking at Islamic law
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
in its entirety, which bestows the responsibility and accountability on men to provide safety, protection and sustenance to women.[Qur'an 4:34]
In addition to the above changes, the Qur'an grants testamentary powers to Muslims in disposing their property.[Qur'an, 2:180-182, 2:240, 4:33, 5:106-107] In their will, called waṣeyya, Muslims are allowed to give out a maximum of one third of their property. Muslims are also encouraged to give money to the orphans and poor if they are present during the division of property.
Later development
The Qur'an contains only three verses [4:11, 4:12 and 4:176] which give specific details of inheritance and shares, in addition to few verses dealing with testamentary power. It has also been reported in HadithHadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
that Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
allotted great importance to the laws of inheritance and ordered his followers to learn and teach them. Muslim jurists used these verses as a starting point to expound the laws of inheritance even further using Hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
, as well as methods of juristic reasoning, like Qiyas
Qiyas
In Islamic jurisprudence, qiyās is the process of deductive analogy in which the teachings of the Hadith are compared and contrasted with those of the Qur'an, in order to apply a known injunction to a new circumstance and create a new injunction...
. In later periods, large volumes of work have been written on the subject.
This amalgamation of old agnatic customs and Islamic law
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
led to a number of problems and controversies that Muslim jurists have solved with great ingenuity. Through the use of deductive reasoning (Qiyas
Qiyas
In Islamic jurisprudence, qiyās is the process of deductive analogy in which the teachings of the Hadith are compared and contrasted with those of the Qur'an, in order to apply a known injunction to a new circumstance and create a new injunction...
), Muslim jurists added three additional heirs: the paternal grandfather, maternal grandmother, and agnatic granddaughter. These heirs, if entitled to inherit, are given their fixed shares and the remaining estate is inherited by the residuaries (ʿaṣaba). In some cases, they have also upheld the rule of men having twice the share of women in circumstances not readily mentioned in the Qur'an, and tried to deal with complex cases in a variety of different contexts. This led to some minor differences between jurisprudence schools of the Sunni maddhabs. Also, the laws of inheritance for Twelver Shia, despite being based on the same principles, differ in a number of features due to the rejection of certain accounts of Hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
and based on their understanding of certain events in early Islam. On the other hand, the system of inheritance of the Kharajite Ibadi
Ibadi
The Ibāḍī movement, Ibadism or Ibāḍiyya is a form of Islam distinct from the Sunni and Shia denominations. It is the dominant form of Islam in Oman and Zanzibar...
s and Zaidis closely resemble that of the Sunni system. In modern Muslim countries, usually a mixture of different schools of jurisprudence (including Shia) is in effect, in addition to a number of important reforms to the traditional system. The main achievements of such modern systems was the codification of inheritance laws.
Details of inheritance in Islamic Law
Inheritance is considered as an integral part of Shariah Law and its application in Islamic society is a mandatory. Muslims inherit from one another as stated in the Qur'an.[Qur'an 4:7] Hence, there is a legal share for relatives of the decedent in his estate and property. The major rules of inheritance are detailed in Qur'anQur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
, Hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
and Fiqh
Fiqh
Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
.
When a Muslim dies there are four duties which need to be performed. They are:
- Pay funeral and burial expenses.
- Pay debts.
- Execute the testamentary will of the deceased (which can only be a maximum of one third of the property).
- Distribute the remainder of estate and property to the relatives of the deceased according to Shariah Law.
Therefore, it is necessary to determine the relatives of the deceased who are entitled to inherit, and their shares.
These laws take greater prominence in Islam because of the restriction placed on the testator
Testator
A testator is a person who has written and executed a last will and testament that is in effect at the time of his/her death. It is any "person who makes a will."-Related terms:...
(a person who makes a will). Islamic law places two restrictions on the testator:
- To whom he or she can bequeath his or her wealth.
- The amount that he or she can bequeath (which must not exceed one third of the overall wealth).
Different types of heirs
Heirs referred to as primary heirs are always entitled to a share of the inheritance, they are never totally excluded. These primary heirs consist of the spouse relict, both parents, the son and the daughter. All remaining heirs can be totally excluded by the presence of other heirs. But under certain circumstances, other heirs can also inherit as residuaries, namely the father, paternal grandfather, daughter, agnatic granddaughter, full sister, consanguine sister and mother. Those who inherit are usually confined to three groups:- Quota-heirs (dhawu al-farāʾḍ), usually include daughters, parents, grandparents, husband and wife/ wives, brothers and sisters, and others. This group usually take a designated share or quota of the estates.
- Members of the ʿaṣaba (residuaries), usually a combination of male (and sometimes female) relatives that inherit as residuaries after the shares of the Quota-heirs is distributed.
- In case a person leaves no direct relatives and there is no ʿuṣaba, his property goes to the state treasury, Bayt al-malBayt al-malBayt al-mal is an Arabic term that is translated as "House of money" or "House of Wealth." Historically, it was a financial institution responsible for the administration of taxes in Islamic states, particularly in the early Islamic Caliphate. It served as a royal treasury for the caliphs and...
.
Rules of Inclusion and Exclusion
In Islamic lawSharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
, only relatives with a legitimate blood relationship to the deceased are entitled to inherit. Thus, illegitimate children and adopted children have no shares in inheritance. In general, a full brother will exclude a consanguine brother, but not uterine
Uterine
The word uterine can refer to different meanings:* relating to or near the uterus or womb* having the same mother, but different fathers, see matrilineality...
brother. In case where a deceased man leaves a pregnant woman, the unborn child's share will be reserved. Also a woman during the time of waiting (ʿidda) after divorce
Divorce (Islamic)
In Islam there are separate rules for divorce for men and women under the terms of Islamic law . When a man has initiated a divorce the procedure is called . When a woman has initiated a divorce it is called khula ....
is considered as a wife of the deceased for purposes of inheritance.
There are even further rules of exclusion and inclusion of different relatives. The only "practical situations" which may cause disqualification are differences of religion and homicide. But schools of Islamic jurisprudence differed whether a Muslim can inherit from a non-Muslim or not. All the jurists agree that intentional or unjustifiable killing would exclude a person form inheritance.
Women and inheritance
In Islam, women are entitled the right of inheritanceInheritance
Inheritance is the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, rights and obligations upon the death of an individual. It has long played an important role in human societies...
. In general circumstances, though not all, Islam allots women half the share of inheritance available to men who have the same degree of relation to the decedent. For example, where the decedent has both male and female children, a son's share is double that of a daughter's. Additionally, the sister of a childless man inherits half of his property upon his death, while a brother of a childless woman inherits all of her property. However, this principle is not universally applicable, and there are other circumstances where women might receive equal shares to men. For example, the share of the mother and father of a childless decedent.. Also the share of a uterine
Uterine
The word uterine can refer to different meanings:* relating to or near the uterus or womb* having the same mother, but different fathers, see matrilineality...
brother is equal to the share of a uterine sister, as do the shares of their descendants.
Also the Qur'an does not discriminate between men and women in cases of kalalah
Kalalah
Kalālah is a term in Islamic inheritance which refers to a someone that has an estate but no direct ascendants or descendants....
relation. Kalalah describes a person who leaves behind neither parents nor children; it also means all the relatives of a deceased except his parents and children, and it also denotes the relationships which are not through [the deceased’s] parents or children.
Islamic scholars hold that the original reason for these difference is the responsibilities allotted to spouses. A husband in Islam must use his inheritance to support his family while a wife has no support obligations. Additionally, Arab society traditionally practiced the custom of bride price
Bride price
Bride price, also known as bride wealth, is an amount of money or property or wealth paid by the groom or his family to the parents of a woman upon the marriage of their daughter to the groom...
or dower
Dower
Dower or morning gift was a provision accorded by law to a wife for her support in the event that she should survive her husband...
rather than dowry
Dowry
A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...
; i.e., the man paid a gift to his wife or her family upon marriage, rather than the opposite, placing a financial burden on men where none existed on women. This custom received Islamic sanction.
Views on Islamic Inheritance
Professor Almaric Rumsey (1825–1899) from King's CollegeKing's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
, University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
, wrote in one of his many legal books, "[the Muslim law of inheritance] comprises beyond question the most refined and elaborate system of rules for the devolution of property that is known to the civilised world."
Recently, the director of the Indonesian Ministry of Islamic Religious Affairs, Nasruddin Umar, who is also a professor at the Indonesian Universitas Islam Negeri and known for a modern interpretation of the Qur'an, has declared that Islam, and thus the Qur'an, supports the division of inheritance between male and female descendants at a ratio of 1:1. His views were protested against by traditional Muslims.
The role of Islamic inheritance in the development of Islamic Mathematics
The Islamic law of inheritance served as an impetus behind the development of algebraAlgebra
Algebra is the branch of mathematics concerning the study of the rules of operations and relations, and the constructions and concepts arising from them, including terms, polynomials, equations and algebraic structures...
(derived from the Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
al-jabr) by Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi
'There is some confusion in the literature on whether al-Khwārizmī's full name is ' or '. Ibn Khaldun notes in his encyclopedic work: "The first who wrote upon this branch was Abu ʿAbdallah al-Khowarizmi, after whom came Abu Kamil Shojaʿ ibn Aslam." . 'There is some confusion in the literature on...
and other medieval Islamic mathematicians. Al-Khwārizmī's Hisab al-jabr w’al-muqabala
The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing
, also known under a shorter name spelled as Hisab al-jabr w’al-muqabala, Kitab al-Jabr wa-l-Muqabala and other transliterations) is a mathematical book written in Arabic in approximately AD 820 by the Persian (Arabic for "The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing", in...
, the foundational text of algebra, devoted its third and longest chapter to solving problems related to Islamic inheritance using algebra. He formulated the rules of inheritance as linear equation
Linear equation
A linear equation is an algebraic equation in which each term is either a constant or the product of a constant and a single variable....
s, hence his knowledge of quadratic equation
Quadratic equation
In mathematics, a quadratic equation is a univariate polynomial equation of the second degree. A general quadratic equation can be written in the formax^2+bx+c=0,\,...
s were not required.
Al-Hassār, a mathematician from the Maghreb
Maghreb
The Maghreb is the region of Northwest Africa, west of Egypt. It includes five countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara...
(North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
) specializing in Islamic inheritance jurisprudence during the 12th century, developed the modern symbolic mathematical notation
Mathematical notation
Mathematical notation is a system of symbolic representations of mathematical objects and ideas. Mathematical notations are used in mathematics, the physical sciences, engineering, and economics...
for fractions
Fraction (mathematics)
A fraction represents a part of a whole or, more generally, any number of equal parts. When spoken in everyday English, we specify how many parts of a certain size there are, for example, one-half, five-eighths and three-quarters.A common or "vulgar" fraction, such as 1/2, 5/8, 3/4, etc., consists...
, where the numerator and denominator are separated by a horizontal bar. The "dust cipher
Cipher
In cryptography, a cipher is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption — a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is encipherment. In non-technical usage, a “cipher” is the same thing as a “code”; however, the concepts...
s he used are also nearly identical to the digits used in the current Western Arabic numerals
Arabic numerals
Arabic numerals or Hindu numerals or Hindu-Arabic numerals or Indo-Arabic numerals are the ten digits . They are descended from the Hindu-Arabic numeral system developed by Indian mathematicians, in which a sequence of digits such as "975" is read as a numeral...
. These same digits and fractional notation appear soon after in the work of Fibonacci
Fibonacci
Leonardo Pisano Bigollo also known as Leonardo of Pisa, Leonardo Pisano, Leonardo Bonacci, Leonardo Fibonacci, or, most commonly, simply Fibonacci, was an Italian mathematician, considered by some "the most talented western mathematician of the Middle Ages."Fibonacci is best known to the modern...
in the 13th century.
In the 15th century, Abū al-Hasan ibn Alī al-Qalasādī
Abu al-Hasan ibn Ali al-Qalasadi
Abū al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Qalaṣādī was a Muslim mathematician from Al-Andalus specializing in Islamic inheritance jurisprudence...
, a specialist in Islamic inheritance jurisprudence, used a mathematical notation
Mathematical notation
Mathematical notation is a system of symbolic representations of mathematical objects and ideas. Mathematical notations are used in mathematics, the physical sciences, engineering, and economics...
for algebra which took "the first steps toward the introduction of algebraic symbolism." He represented mathematical symbols
Table of mathematical symbols
This is a listing of common symbols found within all branches of mathematics. Each symbol is listed in both HTML, which depends on appropriate fonts being installed, and in , as an image.-Symbols:-Variations:...
using characters from the Arabic alphabet
Arabic alphabet
The Arabic alphabet or Arabic abjad is the Arabic script as it is codified for writing the Arabic language. It is written from right to left, in a cursive style, and includes 28 letters. Because letters usually stand for consonants, it is classified as an abjad.-Consonants:The Arabic alphabet has...
.