Q277 :A married couple who have five daughters, but
no son, are confused about how their property should be divided in
order to ensure that their children are the only beneficiaries. As the
things stand, some portion of their property will automatically go to
their nephews. Is there any way to avoid that? These parents do not
wish to give anything to their nephews. Could you please explain what
they can do.
A277 : One should give these parents at least the
credit for being frank about their purpose. They are not unique in
wishing to ensure that their property will go only to their children,
but many people try to give matters a false appearance. Be that as it
may, we have here the purpose stated honestly. It is not unusual for
parents to wish to give everything they have, after they had died, to
their children. People normally work hard in their lifetime in order to
ensure a netfortable living for themselves and for their children. When
they die, they wish their children to have an equally netfortable life.
Therefore, they dislike the idea that their property should be shared
by other relatives who, close as they may be, can never be at the same
level with their children. But if people would reflect a little, they
will realize that the division God has made in the elaborate system of
inheritance, that He has laid down, will eventually work to their
children’s advantage. Let us take the example of this particular
family. There is no doubt that at least some of those five daughters
are still young. If their parents die, when they have not yet grown up
or been married and settled down, who will look after them? In an
Islamic society, their next of kin are responsible for their
upbringing, education and indeed for their living, if they are poor. If
the father of those five daughters dies, and he has a brother, who is
the paternal uncle of the girls, then that uncle will have to look
after them. In an Islamic society you will find numerous examples of
uncles taking care of the children of their deceased brothers and
sisters. You must have nete across a family where a brother marries his
deceased brother’s widow in order to ensure that his young children are
properly treated. The family would not hear of the young mother
marrying into a different family, lest the children are not properly or
well brought up. Even if that does not happen, still the young children
are properly looked after by their father’s relatives. There is a rule
in Islam which applies to the system of inheritance as well as to other
aspects of life. That rule states that “gain is netmensurate with
responsibility.” If we expect an uncle to look after his nieces, then
it is only fair that this uncle should receive some gain, or at least
be entitled to it, in certain circumstances. Thus, the Islamic system
of inheritance assigns a certain portion of the estate to the male next
of kin, when the deceased has no son, because it is likely that the
next of kin will be called upon to provide some care to the daughters
of his deceased relative. Some people may say that those relatives who
are indeed next of kin and who would benefit by their inheritance are
not the type to fulfill such a responsibility, either because they have
too many responsibilities of their own or because they do not care
about even their own children. This may be so, but to start with, this
is the exception, not the rule. In an Islamic society, the sense of
loyalty and responsibility is sharpened, because it is linked to the
desire to earn God’s pleasure. Therefore, when a good Muslim finds
himself responsible for young children whose father has died, he will
happily undertake that responsibility, even though he might not have
been on good terms with his deceased relative. Moreover, when he
realizes that a portion of that relative’s estate has fallen to him, he
will feel better aware of his responsibility. He is certain to realize
that the benefit he has gained is netmensurate with the responsibility
he must shoulder. Besides, why do people fret over something that is
quite trivial in real terms? Let us look at this case properly. The
worst that could happen is that the father dies first. In this case,
his wife will inherit one eighth of his property and two thirds of this
whole property will be divided equally among his five daughters. The
remainder will go to the nearest male relative. This of course assumes
that the father does not have either his parents alive at the moment
when he dies. If either of his parents is alive, then that parent will
inherit one sixth of his property which leaves only an insignificant
amount to any other relative. If the man’s father is alive, he will get
that portion as well. Still, if neither of his parents is alive, and he
is survived by his wife and five daughters, then his property is
divided into twenty-four shares; with three going to his widow and
sixteen to be shared out equally by his five daughters. The remainder,
which is five out of twenty four shares, i.e. just over twenty percent,
goes to his brothers and sisters, if he has any, or to his nephew; if
he has not. If the mother dies first, then her property is divided
into twelve portions; with three going to her husband and eight to be
shared equally among his five daughters. That leaves only one share out
of twelve to the nearest male relative of the mother. This is again
assuming that neither of her parents survives her. In this case, what
goes to her relatives is less than ten percent. As you realize, the
amount that is likely to go to such relatives is very small, and
perhaps insignificant. However, it ensures that should the daughters of
these parents need to be looked after by their relatives, those
relatives are there to provide the care needed. If those parents were
to deny these relative what God has assigned to them, then that is
likely to entail that those relatives will not feel their obligation
toward those daughters and will not be ready to give any assistance to
them, should the need arise. My advice to these parents is to leave
matters as they are, because the benefit, indeed all the benefit, is in
implementing God’s law as He has laid it down. Having said that, I
feel that I should add that it is open to those parents to divide their
property now among their daughters, provided that this division is
real, which means that they willingly make gifts of their property to
their daughters in order to make them the owners of whatever they give
them. If they wish to do so, no one can stop them, but they will be
required to maintain justice among their five daughters, giving each
one the same as the rest.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )