The Laws Of Inheritance In Islam - 5.0

FIQH: AHLUS SUNNAH WAL JAMA'AH - TRADITIONAL SHAFI'I SCHOOL OF JURISPRUDENCE


The Four Preventives of Inheriting an Estate Division Share

'Preventive' here means - that if someone is an estate division heir, but one of the following characteristics exists in him, then he may not inherit. Thus, in calculating the estate division, an heir who is made ineligible by a preventive is considered non-existent. Such a person is thus a non-heir, and as such is eligible for a bequest, under the condition that X wills him one.

The first preventive is killing. Whoever kills X may not inherit from him, no matter whether the killing was:

1. Lawful, as in retaliation, or imposing a criminal penalty;

2. Without lawful right;

3. Accidental;

4. Intentional;

5. Direct-Unintentional; such as Z shooting while hunting,and the shot hitting X; or

6. Indirect-Unintentional; such as when Z is a causal factor in X's death - such as testifying to an act of X's that calls for retaliation against X (e.g. witness for Zina) , or such as digging a well into which X falls.

To summarise, whoever has a hand in X's death, no matter how, cannot inherit from him.


The second preventive is being non-Muslim. A Muslim may not inherit from a non-Muslim, and a non-Muslim may not inherit from a Muslim.


The third preventive is Slavery (- This factor is not really applicable in this day and age)


The fourth preventive is uncertainty as to who died first,such as when X and Z both drown or both die in the collapse of a building, and it is not known who died before the other. In such a case neither may inherit from the other.