Could you please state the “Law of Inheritance”?
Answer
The Law of Inheritance has been explicitly mentioned in the Quran as per the need of mankind. A complementary reading of verses 11, 12 and 176 of Surah Nisa leading to the following understanding:
If a man dies, leaving behind children (or brother(s) and/or sister(s)), parents and wife, the following are the shares to be allotted out of the total wealth:
1. His wife’s share will be one-eighth;
2. His parents’ share will be one-sixth each;
3. And the rest of the wealth shall be distributed in the following way:
3a) If he has only one son, he will inherit all the remaining wealth.
3b) In case there are two or more sons, all of them will share equally.
3c) In case of one daughter only, she will inherit half of the remaining wealth.
3d) In case of two or more daughters, all will share two-thirds of the remaining wealth equally.
3e) In case there are sons and daughters, the share of each son will be twice that of each daughter. That is, the remaining wealth will be distributed among the son(s) and daughter(s) in a ratio of 2:1.
3f) In case he didn’t have off-springs, then his brothers and sisters would take the position of his children, brothers getting twice as much as sisters.
If a man dies childless, leaving behind no brother(s) and/or sister(s), the following are the shares to be allotted out of total wealth:
1. His wife’s share shall be one-fourth,
2. And of what remains, his father shall get twice as much as his mother.
In case the deceased is a woman, the same law shall apply as above except for the fact that if she was issue-less, her husband shall inherit half of her wealth and in case she had children, her husband’s share shall be one-fourth.
The deceased can, before death of course, appoint a close relative (called Kalalah) as his/her heir, who, generally speaking, shall be allowed to have a share in no more the one-third of the total wealth left by the deceased. In certain cases (like if he/she has no legal heir at all, or the heir is only one daughter or daughters only along with spouse and parent(s)) wherein some portion of inheritance is unclaimed, a relative can be nominated to inherit that unclaimed portion of his wealth. In case he does so, and that close relative (uncle, for instance) has one or two siblings then each one of them will get one-sixth of the amount nominated relative will get; but if the number of the siblings exceeds two, then each one of them will share equally (irrespective of gender) in one-third amount of what he nominated relative shall get.
The above law shall be applied only after the debts due from the deceased have been duly paid from his/her wealth.