Ahsan Hanif – Quran Tafseer – Page 78 – Inheritance Distribution
AI: Summary ©
The Surah Nisa in the 4th chronic is often discussed, including issues of inheritance andoppression, distributing wealth, and the rights of the man behind the "brink." It is important to show concern for one's children and not let them be eaten by a orphan, and to not devour and consume wealth. Debt is also discussed, and fixed shares are given to individuals based on their needs. The process of inheritance is obligated, and individuals who have not met the requirements can take their portion. The church is not a one-size-fits-all church, but based on the situation of the deceased's children and parents. The speaker concludes that the process of inheritance is obligated and will continue until the next episode.
AI: Summary ©
Muhammad.
Welcome to another episode of our tafseel page
by page Insha Allahu Ta'ala. Today we are
on page 78 of the Quran which is
the second page of Surah Nisa
in the 4th juz.
In the previous episode we began with the
tafsir of the 4th chapter of the Quran
and that is Surah Nisa and we said
that Surah Nisa is a surah that deals
with interactions and dealings and the rights of
people and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala especially when
it comes to issues
in which
people often fall short of fulfilling the rights
of others. There is often oppression
and injustice within it such as issues of
marriage and divorce and inheritance
and looking after the affairs of the weak
and those people who can't manage their own
affairs such as the orphans and so on.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala gives to us a
number of instructions
in terms of how we should deal with
these affairs. And so for example in the
previous episode we mentioned the issue of orphans.
And our Allah tells people to look after
their affairs and be responsible towards them and
how a person who is their male guardian
shouldn't devour their wealth
or combine their wealth with their own
or look to take their wealth and devour
in a way that is unjust. Likewise Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala told us to look after
the rights
of the females that are under our care
the women who are under our care especially
if we are male guardians when it comes
to issues of marriage and
dowry
and so
on. They have rights that Allah has given
to them in this religion and in this
Sharia. So therefore it's not the right of
the father or the brother or the uncle
or the grandfather or the one who's in
charge to come and to oppress and to
withhold
or to change the laws of Allah Allah
for their own benefit and for their own
greed. And so Allah gave us a number
of instructions when it comes to looking after
the affairs of those people that are under
our charge and under our care.
We begin today's episode with verse number 7
and we go now into the another issue
in which
there is often a great deal of misunderstanding
and
a great deal of oppression and injustice that
occurs within it and that is because it
speaks to the issue of inheritance.
Men shall have a share in what their
parents and closest relatives live and women shall
have a share in what their parents and
closest relatives live whether the legacy be small
or large. This is ordained by Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala.
Allah
in this verse speaks about issues and now
we start to speak about the topic of
inheritance and this Surah is a Surah that
deals and will deal with the majority of
the rulings of inheritance that we find in
the Quran. They are found in Surah Al
Nisa in this particular surah and in the
verses that we will begin with today.
The Arabs as we said in the previous
episode they had this thing that the man
of
the dominant male in the family
should be the one who should have the
lion's share, if not all, of the inheritance
that is left behind. So for example, if
the husband passes away, he leaves behind his
wife, he leaves behind young children.
The brother
of the husband
who is now deceased, so he's the uncle
to those children, he would come and he
would take that wealth from them forcibly.
Why? Because he would consider himself to be
a soldier
like when there's fighting because the tribal system
is often civil strife and warfare and this
fighting between tribes and so on. He would
say I'm the one who fights. I'm the
one who leads the armies. I'm the one
who
provides. I'm the one who is the tribal
leader. So I need this wealth for me.
You, women, children don't need that wealth. What
are you going to do with the money
anyway? And so he would devour it for
himself. This was very common and so you
often find
within the jahiliyyah
times
that the men would take their wealth, the
women,
the orphans, the young children, those people who
can't fend for themselves, they would have very
little recourse to take that back. Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala says in this verse clearly,
men have a right to inheritance and women
also have a right to inheritance.
What are those rights? Those are some of
the issues that Allah
will explain to us within this Surah. But
the point being here is that both of
them have those rights.
So when a person passes away,
the wealth that they leave, which is their
estate that people will inherit from,
that estate
goes to their closest family members
and those closest family members can be male
and they can be female.
So your mother has a right just as
your father has a right. The husband has
the right to share of his wealth, the
wealth of his wife that has passed away
and the wife has the right to share
or her share of the wealth that her
husband leaves when he passes away.
The son has a right to the wealth
but so does the daughter. The brother has
the right to the wealth but so does
the sister and so just as all of
those male relatives have rights to inheritance,
then their female equivalents also have rights to
their inheritance.
Whatever that legacy may be. So it's not
the case that the women only get a
share if there's a great deal of wealth.
So that person was very rich and wealthy
and he left loads behind. So there's no
problem. Everyone can have a share because everyone
gets a good deal. But if the inheritance
that was left behind the estate is really
small,
not really worth much, not much value to
it, then now if we start to distribute
it, no one really gets anything. So therefore
the men just take everything and forget the
women? No. That is also something which is
prohibited and oppressive. And so Allah says
whether the legacy that is left behind is
big or something which is small. This is
something which Allah
has legislated.
In
verse number 8 Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then
says,
If other relatives, orphans or needy people are
present at the time of distribution,
then give them something too and speak kindly
to them. This is from the good etiquettes
that a person should have when it comes
to distributing the wealth. Now in the olden
days, people would normally know that someone someone
has someone has passed away and when that
wealth was going to be distributed.
So when the inheritance is going to be
distributed. And what would then happen is that
that place where, you know, what we would
call today maybe where the will is being
read and where people are being told their
shares and what it is that they're going
to receive
of the estate, sometimes you would have non
heirs attending that are from family members
maybe they are poor and needy and sometimes
other poor people who are not connected to
the family but there are people who
know that there is some wealth that is
going to be distributed, they also turn up.
It is from good etiquette and practice
that those people give to them some Sadaqa.
They don't have to give to them a
great deal depending upon what they have and
what they can do. They should give to
them something
from that inheritance and that is from good
etiquettes and also to help those people if
they are poor and needy and
to maintain
the ties of kinship and relationships in the
case of, for example, those people being family
members or being
non inheriting relatives.
And that is something which the companions used
to do. They would give away some of
that wealth and they would help those people
that are in need and poor.
And at the very least what you should
do even if you cannot give to them
is to speak to them in a good
way in an honorable way in a way
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says and those who
would fear for the future of their own
helpless children if they were to die show
the same concern for orphans. Let them be
mindful of God and speak out for justice.
Allah
is saying that every parent
is
their natural inclination.
It is part of human nature that one
of the things that a person worries about
when they leave this world ultimately
is the well-being of their children and the
future of their children, and that is why
most parents
during their lifetime do the utmost to the
best of their ability each person according to
their own ability to leave behind something for
their children,
to help their children on their way, to
give their children a level of stability
and comfort that will allow them to, Insha'Allah,
live life in a way that is honorable
and that is good. That is
a parental
instinct that every mother and father has, especially
if those children are young. So there is
a difference between someone who, mashaAllah, their children
are now adults,
they're married, they have their own families,
they're independent, they have their jobs and their
careers and their businesses and so therefore that
concern isn't as much as if for example,
your children are still very young.
So a child that's 2, 3, 5, 7,
9, these ages where that child is still
very young
and their path in life has yet to
be established and we don't really know what
the future will hold for them and so
on and so forth. It is in a
a parental instinct. It it is human nature
that you would want for them to be
provided for. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says
just as you fear for those children,
then likewise you should also show the same
concern
when it comes to those orphans those people
who have no one to look after their
affairs especially if those people are from the
people you are charged with looking after and
those people that you should
be mindful of. Allah
says be mindful of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
when it comes to those people and speak
out for justice meaning don't let those people
be oppressed.
They have no one to look after them
now, these orphans, because their parents have passed
away or their fathers passed away. And the
family is deciding what to do with his
wealth. And everyone is saying that's my share
and that's my share and that's my share.
And no one is looking towards the orphan.
And the orphan is a young child, doesn't
have the ability
to speak out, doesn't have the ability to
demand, doesn't have the ability to take and
so therefore they will often be the ones
that people will ignore and will overlook. Allah
says imagine that is your child. Imagine it
is your situation. How would you feel if
that was your child and you were the
one that passed away and this is what
your family was doing towards them. And so
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us to be
mindful of the rights of the orphan when
it comes to
Those who consume the property of orphans and
justly
are actually swallowing fire into their own bellies
they will burn in the blazing fire. And
this is therefore from
the major sins of Islam and from the
things that Allah
warns us against with this threat of punishment
those who devour and consume the property of
orphans and justly.
We have already mentioned what is the just
way and that is that if you are
looking after the orphan, don't combine their wealth
with yours and from their wealth if they
have a sufficient amount
spent upon them in terms of their upkeep,
in terms of their well-being
and also if you are yourself poor, then
you can take a small amount for your
own affairs as well. That is the just
way. Unjustly is to devour and consume that
wealth. Unjustly
is to waste that wealth. Unjustly
is to mix your wealth with theirs so
that you don't know
how much is yours and how much is
theirs. Those people who devoured it unjustly
are only
swallowing
the fire into their own bellies.
What they are eating and consuming of that
wealth is not money that they are consuming
but in reality it is the fire of
how the will burn them with because of
the evil that they have done. And that
is because these people
need, more than anything,
other people to come and look after them,
be good to them, show love and compassion
and kindness and gentleness to them, to take
someone who is already at a disadvantage
and to take more advantage of them, that
is something which isn't even just from good
character,
it's not from good integrity, it's not from
a you know, irrespective of the issue of
Islam and non Muslim, just from a human
standpoint, it would be something that would be
unworthy
and something which would be considered to be
evil. Then when you add the element that
the Muslim should be someone who is mindful
of Allah Azzawajal, feels Allah Subhanahu Ta'ala, it
becomes even more severe
as
a
sin.
Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala in verse number 11
now goes on to
the inheritance themselves in terms of the shares
that Allah has given to certain members of
the family and this verse which is the
final verse on this page and the next
verse which we will take insha'Allah in the
next episodes of verses 11 and 12 are
2 of the main verses in the Quran
that speak about inheritance. In fact, the majority
of the fixed shares in terms of inheritance
will be found within this Surah as we
mentioned before
and these 2 verses 11 and 12 deal
with the majority
of these
issues. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says in verse
number 11,
Concerning your children, Allah says concerning your children,
Allah commands you that a son should have
the equivalent share of 2 daughters.
If there are only daughters, 2 or more
should share 2 thirds of the inheritance.
And if there is only 1, she should
have half.
Parents inherit a 6th each if the deceased
leaves children. If he leaves no children and
his parents are the sole heirs, his mother
has a 3rd unless he has brothers, in
which case she has a 6th. In all
cases, the distribution comes after payment of any
bequests or debts. You cannot know which of
your parents or children is more beneficial to
you. This is a law from Allah and
indeed Allah is all knowing and wise. So
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as we can see
here, Allah begins
by mentioning to us the details
of the issues of inheritance. One of the
misunderstandings that many people have is
because in non
Muslim law, it is
the norm that a person can decide who
they want their wealth to go to. They
can decide which member of the family it
goes to or it doesn't go to or
they can decide not to give it to
any family member and to simply give it
to something or someone else. And his standard
is different. Allah
himself
has stipulated who gets what and how much
they receive in most cases.
So therefore, the difference between the two is
that we don't have a choice. So I
can't come and say, no, actually, I want
to cut off so and so and give
more to so and so and this person
I didn't really get on with so I
will give them less and that one we
were tight so we will give them more.
No. Allah
determined this himself.
And so therefore this is a common misconception
where people think that they can just write
out their own wills in terms of what
it is that they want and we will
speak about more detail in in terms of
what it is that you can give
in terms of bequeathing something or giving something
charity as opposed to what are the laws
of inheritance that are fixed. So here Allah
ajazhu is speaking about the fixed laws of
inheritance. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that Allah
advises you concerning your children
and that is because the children that we
have, Allah has given them to us as
an amana, as a trust.
And so therefore it is part of that
trust
to give them a good Tarbia, give them
a good upbringing, teach them about the origin
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and look after
their affairs and if we fulfill
that trust and we uphold that trust that
Allah has placed upon us then Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala will give us a great reward
and if we waste that trust we don't
fulfill that trust, we abuse that trust then
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would hold us to
account for it.
So when it comes to inheritance, Allah
says,
If the deceased dies
and there are only children left, sons and
daughters, then the son receives double the share
of a daughter.
Generally speaking, Islam
people have fixed shares.
And generally speaking the fixed shares are given
to women
and then whatever is left after those fixed
shares have been received they are given to
men.
However, in certain cases,
if people are related to the deceased in
the same way
and they are of the same level, but
there are male and females there, so like
sons and daughters,
or brothers and sisters,
in most cases and in many cases the
male has certain additional responsibilities under Islamic law
in terms of the well-being and providing of
the family and so on and so forth.
He is the Mahram also of his sisters
and so on and so therefore Allah gives
to them a bigger share. That is not
always the case. Not every male
will receive more than the female. Nor is
it the case that every time
the male will inherit, sometimes the male receives
nothing
because there is nothing left after the females
have taken their fixed shares and all of
this is something which Allah has
decreed because of his hikmah and because of
his wisdom and knowledge Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. So
Allah says in the case that there are
only 2 children
left and there are sons and daughters
or there are sons and daughters available in
the equation,
whoever else is living or not living at
that time, the sons will always receive the
double check concerning the daughter. They will have
the equivalent of the share of 2 daughters.
If there are only daughters however,
there are only daughters and remember each one
of these issues
if there are males that are related to
the deceased,
then those shares may change.
But Allah is speaking about
in general terms giving the fixed shares of
these people or these close family relatives.
The people that are closest to you or
the people that are closest to the deceased
person when they pass away are their parents,
their spouse, and their children.
And in most cases or in pretty much
every case, those 3
groups of people will always inherit your parents,
your spouse,
your children because they are the closest people
to you. Then there are other people that
are eligible to inherit as well, but their
inheritance is determined
by who from amongst these first three categories
is living or not. So for example, your
grandparents may inherit from you but if your
parents are living, your parents have more right
than your grandparents.
Your grandchildren from your sons because it always
goes through the male line, they may inherit
from you. But if your son is living
and your daughters are living, they have more
right to it than your grandchildren and so
on and so forth. Your uncle, your paternal
uncle from your father's side has the right
to inheritance.
But if there are people who are closer
than the uncles such as siblings, they have
more right to it than the uncle. So
just because someone can inherit doesn't mean that
they will. And so essentially what you would
do in this case or in this particular
circumstance is you would go to your local
imam or a scholar that is qualified and
you would say so and so passed away,
this is what they left behind, these are
the family members that are still living, who
inherits and what do they inherit. Allah
says that in the case that there are
only daughters,
if there are 2 or more, then they
take 2 thirds of the inheritance. And if
there is only 1, she receives a half.
Parents
inherit a 6th if the deceased leaves children
and if he leaves no children
and his parents
are his sole heirs then his mother has
a third unless there are brothers in the
equation in which case she has a 6th.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is determined for
each and every single person their fixed shares.
And these are usually people that are the
relatives from the female line. From the female
line these are the people that are usually
the relative. So for example, the mother, the
wife,
the sisters, the daughters, the granddaughters from the
son and so on the grandmothers.
All of these people have fixed shares and
then there are certain males that can also
have fixed shares like for example the husband,
like for example
the maternal brothers and like for example the
father. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in all
of these cases,
all of this that Allah mentions in terms
of the laws of inheritance,
it is done after
any bequests
or debts.
When a person passes away what they leave
behind of their wealth
that is called estate.
So because Allah says that they get 2
thirds of what has been left behind. That
is called the estate. So the inheritance can
be cash, it can be land, it can
be property. All of this, everything that is
of value is gathered together and that becomes
the estate.
That estate then, before we distribute it to
people, there are a few things that we
need to do. Number 1 is that we
need to pay for the funeral expenses.
So if that person didn't have, for example,
a a cooperative committee that they were part
of that they can you can take the
funeral expenses from, it would come from their
estate, number 1, because we have to pay
for their funeral expenses, their washing, their shrouding,
their burial costs, the funeral directors costs, all
of those have to be met. Number 1.
Number 2
is any debts that are upon them.
So that person owed money, The person that
they owed money to has more right to
that wealth than the heirs.
And so all of those debts have to
be fulfilled and from those debts in the
position and opinion of many of the scholars
is something like Hajj which is a debt
to Allah Subhana Wa Ta'la, that person didn't
perform Hajj, you take it from their estate
if no one from their family members is
willing to give Sadaqa and to do that
on their own behalf. So someone, one of
the children may say, no, I'll pay for
my father's Hajj. I will go and make
Hajj on his behalf. I don't need it
from the state. But if no one is
willing to or cannot, then it is taken
from that. Number 3 is a bequeathel,
a bequest.
What is a bequest?
The Muslim has the right to up to
a third of their wealth to give away
to someone who is a non heir
heir. So two conditions number 1 is that
person cannot usually inherit from you. Number 2,
it cannot be more than a third of
your estate
and unless that is that all of the
heirs agree. If all of the heirs agree
and they say our parents wanted to give
half away or our father and mother wanted
to give half away, we all agree, we
are happy.
But otherwise these are the 2 conditions.
The second condition that it should be a
third, the Prophet said in in the hadith
of Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas he
said to him a third and a third
is enough or a third is too much
and that's why a number of the companions
such as the Abi Abbas radiallahu anhu and
others from amongst the scholars said that a
third the prophet said is the maximum the
absolute maximum
so therefore to give less than a third
is better because it's as if the prophets
have been saying even a third is too
much. So to give a quarter,
5th, 6th, that is something which is good
if a person wants to give it to
charity. And that is only in the case
where that person has the ability to do
so. A number of the scholars were of
the position that if a person didn't leave
much behind,
then it is better for them to give
all of it in inheritance as opposed to
they take away a 3rd or a quarter,
and they don't have a great deal of
money to start off with in the first
place.
That is the third thing that that is
done. So therefore, number 1, funeral expenses. Number
2, debts. Number 3, the bequest. And that
is what is written down. These are the
things that are written down because they are
unknowns.
They they are up to a person. No
one knows how much debts you have. No
one knows what you want to give away
in charity and to whom. And so those
things have to be stipulated. And then once
all of that is done, the remainder is
given to your heirs and it is done
in the way that we have mentioned with
these fixed
shares. Why does Allah give us fixed shares?
Why did Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala leave it
to me and you? Allah
says because had he done so there would
have been much corruption. Why? Because we don't
really know. We can't really determine each person
would have their own way of understanding
who has more right.
You cannot know which of your parents or
your children is more beneficial to you. Should
you give your parents more? Should you give
your children more? And then it will lead
to problems because each person would have that
ability and that discretion to choose as we
see often in many cases and so someone
would come and say I served you my
whole life
and you gave someone else more. This way
Allah established it.
And so there is a great deal of
mercy
in this because I don't have a choice
and you as the recipient don't have a
choice. We both have to accept Allah's commands
and Allah's laws. So therefore there is no
point being me being upset with you or
you being upset with me. It is something
which Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala determined
and that is from the beauty of Allah
Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala makes it something which is obligatory
in this way and he and he went
into detail on this issue
because therefore people wouldn't be able to question
these laws and these issues or they wouldn't
have that ability to make their own judgments
and therefore cause problems within their families and
amongst their close relatives.
Part 2 of this issue of inheritance will
continue Insha'Allah Ta'ala in the next episode because
these verses continue
with regards to other shares that are given
to other family members but we will leave
that insha'Allah ta'ala until the next episode.