Apostasy must be confirmed before exclusion from inheritance

14-4-2014 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalaamu ‘Alaykum; Please calculate the inheritance according to the following information -Does the deceased have male relatives who are entitled to inherit: (A son) Number 1 (grandson (from the son)) Number 1 (A full brother) Number 1 (A nephew from a full brother) Number 1 -Does the deceased have female relatives who are entitled to inherit : (A mother) (A daughter) Number 1 (A wife) Number 1 (A full sister) Number 1 - Additional information : have an apostate daughter

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His Slave and Messenger.

First of all, we say that judging that the daughter is an apostate is a matter that should be referred to the scholars as they are more aware of the causes of apostasy and the impediments which prevent from declaring someone an apostate. A layman cannot rule that a Muslim is an apostate just because the latter has committed an act which this layman believes to be an act of apostasy, i.e. which takes a person out of the fold of Islam, especially in this day and age when ignorance is widespread.

A Muslim may be considered an apostate by others without having committed an act of apostasy, or maybe the act takes a person out of the fold of Islam but there is an impediment for declaring him as a non-Muslim, like misinterpretation, or compulsion, or ignorance or the like. Not every person that commits an act of disbelief is ruled to be an apostate as underlined in Fatwa 87963.

Therefore, you should resort to the scholars in ruling that that daughter is an apostate. Then if it is confirmed that she has abandoned Islam, she is not an heir to her father and is not entitled to a share of his inheritance, as a non-Muslim does not inherit anything from a Muslim according to the agreement of all the scholars. Usaamah ibn Zayd related that the Prophet said: “An unbeliever is not an heir to a Muslim.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim] Please refer to Fatwa 89594.

If the deceased did not leave any heirs besides those mentioned in the question, then his mother gets one-sixth as her legal share due to the existence of children of the deceased, as Allaah says (what means): {And for one’s parents, to each one of them is a sixth of his estate if he left children.}[Quran 4:11]

His wife gets one-eighth as her legal share due to the existence of the children; Allaah says (what means): {But if you leave a child, then for them [i.e. the wives] is an eighth of what you leave, after any bequest you [may have] made or debt.} [Quran 4:12]

The remainder should be divided amongst the son and the daughter by Ta’seeb (by virtue of having a paternal relation with the deceased and not having an allotted share, so they get what is left after the allotted shares have been distributed); and the male is entitled to twice as the female as Allaah says (what means): {Allaah instructs you concerning your children [i.e. their portions of inheritance]: for the male, what is equal to the share of two females.}[Quran 4:11]

The remaining persons whom you mentioned are not entitled to anything from the estate because they are prevented by the existence of the son.

Therefore, the inheritance should be divided into 72 shares, the mother gets one-sixth, which is 12 shares, the wife gets one-eighth, which is 9 shares, his son gets 34 shares and his daughter gets 17 shares.

This answer is based on the one daughter being Muslim and not the daughter whom you described as an apostate.

But if the apostasy of the other daughter is not confirmed by scholars, then she has a right to inherit and the heirs of the deceased would be according to the following: a mother, a wife, a son and two daughters. In that case, the inheritance would be divided into 96 shares; the mother gets one sixth which is 16 shares; the wife gets one eighth which is 12 shares, his son gets 34 shares and each of the two daughters gets 17 shares.

Allaah Knows best.