mohammed

[coola]

could a muslim that has read the koran tell me if the dividing of possesions in the case of death (of husband) is accurate ?

i have been told that the fractions dont add up, for example: the wife will recieve like 1/3 of the estate, the brother will recieve 3/5 some bullshit like that... and apparently all the fractions dont add up to 1 ...

[J @ M @ L]

There can be certain cases where the fractions may not add up to 1, but they will never exceed 1. The reason is that there are two categories of inheritors. One category of inheritors who are given a fixed proportion of the total inheritance, and the other category of inheritors SHARE the REMAINING BALANCE in specified proportions AFTER the inheritors of the first category get their share. People may nominate other relatives not included in either category to inherit whatever remains (if the fractions don't add to 1 in that situation)... and if there is no such "will", then the closest male relative inherits it.

By the way, the reason why a male inherits double of what the female does is because the male is expected to take care of "his" family (wife, kids, and then SIBLINGS as well)... but whatever the female inherits is just for her, and she's not expected to share it with anyone or take care of anyone with her money.

[Kassem]

In inheritance, there are two groups of heirs. A share group (called As-hab Al-Fara’id) and a residual group (called As-hab Al-‘Asabah). The shares are given in their general forms as 1/8, 1/6, 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, and 2/3 and the distribution of residual is given as a formula of “a male having twice as much as a female.”

The application of these principles is left to the human intelligence as it always depends on the number of heirs and their relationship to the deceased. In most actual cases there are heirs of the two groups. There are also several cases where the total of shares adds to more (or less) than one. These cases cannot be considered as mistakes because the distribution remains in the same proportion of the shares as given in the Qur’an. The cases that add to more than one are known in Fiqh as cases of “`Awl” which means “reverting to”. In other words, these cases revert to a distribution that maintains the same internal proportions of the given shares although they add up to more than one. It works as in the following examples:

Husband + 2 daughters + one parent: 1/4+2/3+1/6=13/12, shares are distributed out of 13;

Husband + 2 daughters + two parents: 1/4+2/3+1/6+1/6=15/12, shares are distributed out of 15;

Husband + 2 sisters + mother: 1/2+2/3+1/6=8/6, shares are distributed out of 8;

Husband + 2 sisters: 1/2+2/3=7/6, shares are distributed out of 7;

Wife + 2 daughters + two parents: 1/8+2/3+1/6+1/6=9/8, shares are distributed out of 9.

By the same token, human intelligence also works in cases that add up to less than one. This is known in our Fiqh as cases of “Radd” which literally means “rendering” as in the following examples:

One daughter (or one sister) only, alone with no other heirs: 1/2. Remaining 1/2 is rendered back to her;

Two daughters (or sisters) only: 2/3. Remaining 1/3 is rendered back to them;

Wife + 2 sisters + mother: 1/8+2/3+1/6=23/24, (by the way, you quoted this example wrong because when there are sisters mother takes only 1/6 as indicated in 4:11) the remainder is distributed to sisters and mother in the same proportion, no rendering to either husband or wife;

Mother alone, and mother with daughter(s) (or sisters) only, there is always a remainder of two third, one third or one sixth, it is rendered to them proportionally.

[h cottie is bac-tive?]

Ali?

[coola]

ahhhh so it's that simple...