Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

 

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Assalamalaikum,

 

My question is about inheritance according to the shariat law. Do daughters have right to inherit the property which is not the earned property of her father but ancestral property of grandfather.Is it true only the grandsons or the sons have right over the ancestral property.

 

Example :- My grand father baught some land which my father inherited and gave the shares to his sisters.after this distribution now we are 5 granddaughters  and 1 grandson do the granddaughters have any share in that land.which has been a cultivating land and my father is also been doing cultivation on it. now he has 1 grandson who is a great grand son to my grandfather. does the inherited property go only to the sons grandsons and great grandsons only.

 

Jazakallah.

 

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

 

Answer:

 

Inheritance of grand child

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

 

The ‘ashaab-ul-faraidh’ or legal heirs of the deceased in Shariah are

1.       The father of the deceased

2.       The mother of the deceased

3.       The wife of the deceased

4.       The sons of the deceased

5.       The daughters of the deceased

 

The grand-children or the great-grand-children of the deceased are not considered legal heirs of the property left behind by their grandfather/grandmother in Shariah Law.

 

Your Question: ….My grand father baught some land which my father inherited and gave the shares to his sisters.

Lets say your grand-father died and left behind a land worth 100,000.00, and his only surviving heirs were his one son (your father) and his two daughters (your father’s sisters).

 

In such a scenario, the distribution of the property of your grandfather will be as follows:-

The property will be divided into 4 equal shares, and the male would receive twice the share of the female.  Thus:

1.       The son (your father) would be entitled to twice the share of the sisters, ie. 50,000.00

2.       The two daughters (your father’s sisters) would be entitled to 25,000.00 each.

 

At the death of your father, who is survived by his one son and five daughters, the distribution of this property will be as follows:-

 

The property of your father (50,000.00) will be divided into seven equal shares and the male will receive twice the share of the females.  Thus:

1.       The son will receive 14,285.75

2.       Each of the five daughters will receive 7,142.85

 

The grand-children or the great-grand-children are not legal heirs of the property left behind by their grandparents in Shariah, but they will inherit only their proportion of the share left behind by their deceased father/mother.

 

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone.  Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

 

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

 

 

Burhan