Islam & the Modern World · Men, Women & Gender

Inheritance: the whole picture

Handle with care. Handle with care: denying women their inheritance is common in some Muslim communities. Condemn it before defending the rule.

In short

• 1.The two-to-one ratio applies to specific cases, not all. In many configurations a woman inherits equally or more.
• 2.Her inheritance is hers absolutely — no obligation to spend it on anyone.
• 3.His inheritance carries the legal duty of maintenance for wife, children and often other relatives.

The claim being examined

The Qur'anic rule that a son receives twice a daughter's share is cited as plain proof of inequality.

The Islamic position

The share sits inside a system: a woman keeps everything she owns and everything she earns, while a man's wealth is legally committed to maintaining her and the household.

Analysis

Precision protects you here. Q 4:11 gives the male child twice the share of the female child, and Q 4:11-12 and 4:176 set out the fixed shares (fara'id) for parents, spouses, siblings and others. The classical system is a mathematics, not a slogan: there are configurations in which a daughter receives the same as a comparable male heir, and configurations in which women inherit more than men in the same estate — mother and father each take one sixth where there are children (Q 4:11), an equal share. The economic logic is stated by the exegetes and follows from the rest of the law: nafaqah is a legal debt on the man toward his wife, children and, in the classical books, indigent close relatives, and it is enforceable in court; a woman is under no obligation to spend her wealth on anyone, including herself, if her husband is present. So the two-to-one share applies to money that arrives with different obligations attached. Two honesty notes. First, in societies where men no longer maintain women, the balance is broken in practice — scholars have written about the injustice of taking the share while abandoning the duty. Second, family pressure that denies women their inheritance entirely is widespread in some Muslim communities and is theft under Islamic law; say so.

From the Qur'an

From the Sunnah

Sources

Ibn Rushd, Bidayat al-Mujtahid, Kitab al-Fara'id · Al-Qurtubi on Q 4:11 · Qur'an 4:7-12, 4:176; Sahih al-Bukhari 6732

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