Islamic inheritance jurisprudence

This is a sub-article of  Islamic economical jurisprudence  and  inheritance .

Islamic Inheritance jurisprudence  is a field of Islamic Jurisprudence ( Arabic :  fiqh ) that deals with  inheritance , a topic that is prominently dealt with in the  Qur'an . It is often called  Mīrāth , and its branch of  Islamic law  is technically known as al-farā'iḍ'ulm  ( Arabic :  alfrayz knowledge , "the science of the ordained quotas"). ^[1]  All  Muslims  are expected to follow and implement the rules of Islamic inheritance.

Historical background 

Prior to Islam, and within the  Arabian Peninsula , the system of inheritance was confined to male descendants. Women not only did not have any share of inheritance, but they were themselves too inheritable. ^[1]  Siblings from the mother's side, like half-brothers or half-sisters, were completely excluded. Other  Semitic  cultures also practiced  primogeniture , under which all property went to the eldest male child. ^[1]

Inheritance and the Qur'an 

The  Qur'an  introduced a number of different rights and restrictions on matters of inheritance, including general improvements to the treatment of women and family life. ^[1]  The Qur'an also presented efforts to fix the laws of inheritance, and thus forming a complete legal system. Development This was in contrast to pre-Islamic societies where rules of inheritance varied considerably. ^[1]  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  brother, full sister, uterine sister, and  consanguine  sister. ^[2]

In general, the Qur'an improved the status of women by identifying their share of inheritance in clear terms. It also forbade the practice of inheriting widows completely. ^[4:19]  Orientalist  Joseph Schacht  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." ^{[1 ]} The Qur'an does not explicitly mention the shares of male relatives, prambors as the  decedent 's son, but the son's share providet the rule that must be twice that of the daughter's. To explain this aspect of Muslim theologians inheritance by looking at  Islamic law  in its entirety, which bestows on the responsibility and accountability to men to provide safety, protection and sustenance to women. ^{[Qur'an 4:34] [2]}

In addition to the above changes, the Qur'an grants  testamentary  powers in disposing to their property to Muslims. ^{[Qur'an, 2: 180-182, 2: 240, 4:33, 5: 106-107]}  In to their will, called waṣeyya , Muslims are allowed to give out to their property a maximum of one third of. 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 been also reported in  Hadith  that  Muhammad  The Importance great allotted to the laws of inheritance and ordered his followers to learn and teach them. ^[1] Muslim jurists used these verses as a starting point to expound the laws of inheritance even further using  Hadith , as well as methods of juristic reasoning, like  Qiyas . In later periods, large volumes of work have been written on the subject. ^[2]

This amalgamation of old agnatic customs and  Islamic law  led to a number of problems and controversies that Muslim jurists have solved with great ingenuity. ^[2] Through the use of deductive reasoning ( Qiyas ), Muslim jurists added three additional heirs: the paternal grandfather, maternal grandmother, and agnatic granddaughter. These heirs, if entitled to inherit, and the remaining shares are fixed given to their estate is inherited by the residuaries ('aṣaba). ^[2]  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. ^[2]  This led to some minor differences between schools of jurisprudence the  Sunni  maddhabs . Also, for the laws of inheritance  Twelver  Shia , despite being based on the same principles, differ in a number of features due to the rejection of certain accounts of  Hadith  and based on to their understanding of certain events in early Islam. ^[1]  On the other hand, the system of inheritance of the  Kharajite  Ibadis  and  Zaidis  closely resemble that of the Sunni system. ^[1]  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 the codification of inheritance laws was prambors modern systems. ^[1]

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]}  b, there is a legal share for relatives of the  decedent  in his estate and property. The major rules of inheritance are detailed in  Qur'an ,  Hadith  and First and Last .

When a Muslim dies there are four duties which need to be performed. They are:

1. Pay funeral and burial expenses.
2. Pay debts.
3. Execute the testamentary will of the deceased (which can only be a maximum of one third of the property).
4. Distribute the remainder of estate and property to the relatives of the deceased according to Shariah Law.

Therefore, it is necessary to determine who the relatives of the deceased are entitled to inherit, and to their shares. ^[2]

These laws take greater prominence in Islam because of the restriction placed on the  testator  (a person who makes a will). Islamic law places two restrictions on the testator:

1. To whom he or she can bequeath his or her wealth.
2. The amount that he or she can bequeath (which must not exceed one third of the overall wealth). ^[2]

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, can also inherit as residuaries other heirs, namely the father, paternal grandfather, daughter, agnatic granddaughter, full sister, consanguine sister and mother. ^[2]  Those who inherit are usually confined to three groups:

1. Quota-heirs (dhawu al-farā'ḍ), 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.
2. Members of the'aṣaba (residuaries), usually a combination of male (and sometimes female) relatives that inherit as residuaries is distributed after the shares of the Quota-heirs. ^[1]
3. In case a person leaves no direct relatives and there is no'uṣaba, his property  escheats  to the state treasury,  Bayt al-mal . ^[1]

Rules of Inclusion and Exclusion 

In  Islamic law , 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  brother. ^{[ clarification needed ] [2]}  In case where a deceased man leaves a pregnant woman, the unborn child's share will be reserved. The waiting time of a woman also fell ('idda) after  divorce  is considered as a wife of the deceased for purposes of inheritance. ^[1]

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 inheritance form would exclude a person. ^[2]

Women and inheritance 

In Islam, women are entitled the right of  inheritance . ^[3]  In general circumstances, though not all, of Islam allots women half the inheritance share 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. ^[4] 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. ^[5]  However, this principle is not universally applicable, ^[2]  and there are circumstances where other women might receive shares equal to men. For example, the share of the mother and father of a childless decedent. ^{[ citation needed ]} . Also the share of a  uterine  brother is equal to the share of a uterine sister, as do the shares of to their descendants. ^[2]

Some times women get double the share then that of of men, for example if there are only parents and husband, husband will receive half, father gets 1/6 and mother gets 2/6. This is according to Ibne Abbas's interpretation of verses 11, 12 of an nisa sorat.  ^{[ Quran}     Also the Qur'an does not discriminate between men and women in cases of  kalalah  relation. ^{[6] [7]}  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  or  dower  rather than  dowry ; ie, 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 was continued but changed materially by Islam. The divine injunction stipulated that the dowry (mahr) is due to the wife only not her family. It can also be deferred thereby reducing the burden if the husband is unable to afford the requested dowry at the time of the marriage. The wife can defer it till a stipulated date or it can become a debt on the estate when the husband dies. [4] And give their dowries willingly to women (as an obligation), but if they, of their own accord, remit a portion of the dowry, you may enjoy pleasure with it.  ^[8]

The role of Islamic inheritance in the development of Islamic Mathematics 

The Islamic law of inheritance served as an impetus behind the Development of  algebra  (derived from the  Arabic  al-jabr ) by  Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī  and other  medieval Islamic mathematicians . Al-Khwārizmī's  Hisab al-jabr w'al-muqabala , the foundational text of algebra, kesha its third and longest chapter to solving problems related to Islamic inheritance using algebra. He formulated the rules of inheritance as  linear equations , hence his knowledge of  quadratic equations  was not required. ^[9]

Al-Hassār , a mathematician from the  Maghreb  ( North Africa ) specializing in Islamic inheritance jurisprudence fell the 12th century, developed the modern symbolic mathematical notation  for  fractions , where the  numerator  and  denominator  are separated by a horizontal bar. The "dust  ciphers  he used are also nearly identical to the digits used in the current Western  Arabic numerals . These same digits and fractional notation appear soon after in the work of  Fibonacci  in the 13th century. ^{[10] [11] [12]}

In the 15th century,  Abu al-Hasan ibn Alī al-Qalasādī , a specialist in Islamic inheritance jurisprudence, used a  mathematical notation  for algebra which took "the first steps toward the introduction of algebraic symbolism." He represented  mathematical symbols  using characters from the  Arabic alphabet . ^[13]

(From Wikipedia)