LESSON 12: “Inheritance-incompetence”

LESSON 12: “Inheritance-incompetence”

The following is a literal rendering of 4:11:


“Instructs you Allah concerning your children: for the male like portion two females. But if there are women more (than) two, then for them two-thirds what he left. And if is one, then for her half. And for his parents, for each one of them a sixth of what left, if is for him a child. But if not for him is a child and inherit him his parents then for his mother one-third. And if are for him brothers and sister, then for his mother the sixth from after any will made or any debt.”
4:11


Notice that the parents only receive 1/3 (between them) of “what is left”, not of “what he left”. That is to say, they receive a third of what remains following any other payments. An examination of the literal wording in 4:12 reveals that both children and spouses get equal priority in that they are all assigned fractions from “what the deceased left” (i.e. from the whole as opposed to the remainder).

So let us consider:

The Qur’an distinctly says that the male child will receive the share of two females and that if there are two or more females then the females receive 2/3 between them. In other words, if there are male children then the share of the children comes last since the “double share” of the male must be preserved. To demonstrate, if Harold leaves two daughters, a son and a wife, the daughters would receive 2/3 (1/3 each) and the male child would receive 2/3. That would mean 4/3 of the inheritance has been distributed before we even get to his wife! The portion of the male child is never stated and depends on what the daughters receive. Thus we add “and no males” into the translation of 4:11 when it refers to the daughters. Moreover, when it refers to the share of the mother with siblings we infer that it means a mother and no offspring, wife or father (since parents only receive a portion of what is left and there are no instructions for siblings). There are no children as 4:176 differentiates “kalala” from its use in 4:12 by adding the clause “and he has no child”. There cannot be a wife and two parents because if this allowed him to be a “kalala” there would be instructions for the siblings in this verse. The absence of a wife, absence of a mother or absence of a father (or any combination) thus so far renders one a “kalala”. 4:176 clarifies this by stating that the portion which siblings receive will possibly be the entire inheritance (see the context) as long as males receive the share of two females. There could thus be no wife or father, and the deceased there is termed a “kalala”. There could likewise be no mother except for the fact that 4:11 gives instructions where the mother receives a 1/6 of what is left (in the case of siblings).

To illustrate, if a “kalala” dies leaving three daughters, a mother and a brother and sister, the daughters receive 2/3 and his siblings 1/3 (4:12). His mother receives 1/6 of the remainder which is nothing. However, if a “kalala” dies leaving only a mother, a brother and a sister, the mother receives 1/6 whilst the remainder is apportioned according to 4:176. Siblings only receive a default inheritance if there is neither wife nor father, and parents only receive a portion of what is left.

Let us use the example which people use to “disprove Islam”:

Harold dies and leaves behind three daughters, two parents and his wife. The three daughters receive 2/3 between them, his wife receives 1/8 and the parents receive 1/3 of what is left. In this case there will be an excess which can be distributed to relatives or charity according to usage (4:8).