Inheritance and Wills

The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said:, “I am nearer to the believers than themselves, so if anyone dies leaving a debt without leaving enough to pay it I shall be responsible for paying it, and if anyone leaves property it goes to his heirs.” A version has, “If anyone leaves a debt or children without maintenance let the matter come to me, for I am his guardian.”

Another version has, “If anyone leaves property it goes to his heirs and if anyone leaves dependents without resources they come to us.”

Ibn Abbas reported God’s Messenger as saying, “Give the shares to those who are entitled to them, and what remains over goes to the nearest male heir.”

Usamah ibn Zayd reported God’s Messenger as saying, “A Muslim may not inherit from an infidel or an infidel from a Muslim.”

The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said:, “The freedman* of a people is one of them.” * Maula. This word may mean either the one who emancipates or the one who has been emancipated, and therefore the tradition has received two different interpretations according to the meaning of maula.

He reported God’s Messenger as saying, “A sister’s son has blood- relationship to her family.”

Abdallah ibn Amr reported God’s Messenger as saying, “People of two different religions may not inherit from one another.”

Abu Hurayrah reported God’s Messenger as saying, “One who kills a man cannot inherit from him.”

The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) appointed a sixth to a grandmother if no mother is left to inherit before her.

Jabir reported God’s Messenger as saying, “When an infant has raised its voice and then dies*, prayer is offered over it and it is treated as an heir.” *And then dies does not occur in the text, but is obviously to be understood from the context. The position is that when the heir of someone who has died is expecting a child, the division of the property must not be made till the child is born. If the child lives long enough to raise it voice it is entitled to a share in the inheritance.

Kathir ibn Abdallah, on his father’s authority, said that his grand-father reported God’s Messenger as saying, “The freedman of a people is one of them, the ally* of a people is one of them, and a sister’s son has blood-relationship to her family.” * Or “close friend”. Dawud transmitted it.

Al-Miqdam reported God’s Messenger as saying, “I am nearer to every believer than himself, so if anyone leaves a debt or a helpless family I shall be responsible, but if anyone leaves property it goes to his heirs. I am the patron of him who has none, inheriting what he possesses and freeing him from his liabilities. A maternal uncle is heir of him who has none, inheriting his property and freeing him from his liabilities.”

A version has, “I am the heir of him who has none, paying blood wit for him and inheriting from him; and a maternal uncle is the heir of him who has none, paying blood wit for him and inheriting from him.”

one she has set free, a foundling, and her child about whom she has invoked a curse on herself if she was untrue in declaring he was not born out of wedlock.

Amr ibn Shuaib, on his father’s authority, said his grandfather reported the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) as saying, “If a man commits fornication with a freewoman or a slave woman the child is the product of fornication, and neither does he inherit nor may anyone inherit from him.”

Aishah said that a client of God’s Messenger died leaving some property, but no relative or child, and God’s Messenger said, “Give what he has left to a man belonging to his village.”

A man of Khuzaa died and his estate was brought to the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) who gave instructions to look for an heir of his or some relative, but they found neither, so God’s Messenger said, “Give it to the leading man* of Khuzaa (al-kubr. This may mean the greatest in rank or in age, or, more probably, the nearest in kin to the man’s oldest ancestor, the one with fewest intermediate links. Abu Dawud transmitted it.

In a version by him he said, ‘Look for the greatest (akbar. This might mean greatest or oldest, but it is most probably used here in the same sense as al-kubr) man of Khuzaa.’”

You recite this verse, “After a legacy you bequeathe or a debt (An-Nisa 4:12),” but God’s Messenger decided that a debt should be discharged before a legacy and that the sons of the same mother inherit from one another, but not the sons of one father by different mothers. A man inherits from his brother who has the same father and mother, but not from his brother who has the same father but a different mother. Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah transmitted it.

In a version by Darimi he said, “Brothers who have the same mother inherit from one another but not sons of the same father but of different mothers, etc.”

The wife of Sad b. ar-Rabi brought to God’s Messenger her two daughters whose father was Sad b. ar-Rabi and said, “Messenger of God, these are the daughters of Sad b. ar-Rabi. Their father was killed as a martyr when he was with you at the battle of Uhud, their paternal uncle has taken their property leaving them nothing, and they cannot be married unless they have some property.” He replied that God would decide regarding the matter, and when the verse about inheritance (An-Nisa 4:11) was sent down God’s Messenger sent to their paternal uncle and said, “Give Sad’s two daughters two-thirds and their mother an eighth, and what remains is yours.”

Abu Musa was asked about a case where there were a daughter, a son’s daughter and a sister and replied, “The daughter gets half and the sister gets half. Go to Ibn Masud and you will find that he agrees with me.”

When Ibn Masud was asked and told what Abu Musa had said he replied, “I would then be in error and not be one of those who are rightly guided. I decide concerning the matter as the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) did: The daughter gets half and the son’s daughter a sixth, making two-thirds, and what remains goes to the sister.”

We then went to Abu Musa and when we told him what Ibn Masud had said he replied, “Do not question me as long as this learned man is among you.” Bukhari transmitted it. (Here again we find a tradition by Bukhari in Section 2.)

A man came to God’s Messenger and said, “My son’s son has died, so what do I receive from his estate?” He replied, “You receive a sixth;” then when he turned away he called him and said, “You receive another sixth;” and when he turned away he called him and said, “The other sixth is an allowance,” (It would seem, although it is not explicit, that the grandson had left two daughters who were therefore entitled to two-thirds of the estate. The grandfather was entitled only to a sixth, but was given another sixth, as a favour, presumably because there were no other heirs).

When a grandmother came to Abu Bakr asking him for her share of an estate he told her that nothing was prescribed for her in God’s Book or in the sunna of God’s Messenger, but asked her to go home till he had questioned the people.

When he did so, Al-Mughirah ibn Shubah said he had been present with God’s Messenger when he gave her a sixth. Abu Bakr asked if anyone had been with him and Muhammad ibn Maslama said the same as al- Mughira had said, so Abu Bakr made it apply to her. Another grand-mother came to Umar asking him for her share of an estate and he said, “It is that sixth. If there are two of you it is shared between you, but whichever is the only one left gets it all.”

About a case where there was a grandmother and her son that she was the first grandmother to whom God’s Messenger gave a sixth which was not due to her when she had a son who was still alive.

God’s Messenger wrote to him telling him to include the wife of Ashyam ad-Dibabi among the heirs to the blood-wit paid for her husband.

Tamim ad-Dari said he asked God’s Messenger what the sunna was about a polytheist who accepts Islam by the advice and persuasion of a Muslim, and he replied that he was the nearest to him in life and in death.

A man died leaving no heir but a youth whom he had emancipated, and that when the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) asked whether he had any heir and was told that he had none but a youth of his whom he had emancipated, he assigned his estate to him.

Amr ibn Shuaib, on his father’s authority, said that his grandfather reported the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) as saying, “He who has the right to inherit property inherits the property of an emancipated slave.”

Abdallah ibn Umar reported God’s Messenger as saying, “An estate which was divided in the pre-Islamic period following the division in force then, but any estate in Islamic times must follow the division appointed by Islam.”

Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr ibn Hazm said he often heard his father tell that Umar ibn al-Khattab used to say, “It is astonishing that one may inherit from a paternal aunt but that she does not inherit.”

Umar said, “Learn the rules of inheritance,” Ibn Masud adding, “of divorce and of the pilgrimage,” and both saying, “for it pertains to your religion.”

Wills. Ibn Umar reported God’s Messenger as saying, “It is the duty of a Muslim man who has something which is to be given as a bequest not to have it for two nights without having his will written regarding it.”

During an illness which brought me near to death in the year of the Conquest God’s Messenger came to visit me and I said, “Messenger of God, I have a large amount of property and my daughter is my only heir. Shall I will away all my property?”

He replied, ‘No’ I suggested two-thirds, but he objected, then a half, but he still objected. When I suggested a third he replied, “You may will away a third, but that is a lot*. To leave your heirs rich is better than to leave them poor and begging from people. You will not spend anything, seeking thereby to please God, without being rewarded for it, even the mouthful you give your wife.” *While this tradition tells that the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) gave permission for a man to will away a third of his estate to some person or purpose other than the heirs, it indicates that be thought it would be better not to will away so much.

God’s Messenger visited me when I was ill and asked whether I had made my will. I replied that I had. He asked how much I had willed and when I told him I had willed all my property away to be devoted to God’s path he asked how much I had left my children. I replied that they were rich and prosperous, whereupon he told me to will away a tenth; but I kept on telling him it was too little till he finally said, “Will away a third, but a third is a lot.”

“The child is attributed to the mother’s husband, but the adulterer gets nothing, and their reckoning is in God’s hands.”

The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said, “No legacy is to be left to an heir unless the other heirs are agreeable.” This is the wording in al-Masabih, but in Daraqutni’s version he said, “A legacy to an heir is not allowable unless the other heirs are agreeable.”

“ A man and a woman act in obedience to God for sixty years then when they are about to die they cause injury by their will, so they must go to hell.” Then Abu Hurayrah recited, “After a legacy which you bequeathe or a debt, causing no injury. that will be the mighty success”(An-Nisa 4:12).

Jabir reported God’s Messenger as saying, “He who dies leaving a will has died following a path and a sunna, he has died piously and testifying to the true faith, and he has died with his sins forgiven.”

Amr ibn Shuaib, on his father’s authority, said his grandfather told that al-‘As ibn Wail left in his will that a hundred slaves should be emancipated on his behalf. His son Hisham emancipated fifty slaves and his son Amr intended to emancipate the remaining fifty on his behalf, but decided first to ask God’s Messenger. He therefore went to the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and said, ‘Messenger of God, my father left in his will that a hundred slaves should be emancipated on his behalf and Hisham has emancipated fifty on his behalf and fifty remain.

Shall I emancipate them on his behalf?’ God’s Messenger replied, ‘Had he been a Muslim and you had emancipated slaves on his behalf, or given sadaqa on his behalf, or performed the pilgrimage on his behalf, that would have reached him.’’

Anas reported God’s Messenger as saying, “If anyone deprives an heir of his inheritance, God will deprive him of his inheritance in paradise on the day of resurrection.”