Q217 :My father has four sons and he wants to divide
his property through a sale deed among his three sons, giving no share
to his eldest son, for the following reasons:
A217 : My elder brother has never contributed to
the family finances, nor has he ever undertaken any responsibilities
with respect to the marriage of our sisters or their family matters.
Moreover, the three of us shared physically and financially in the
construction of an extension to our father’s house. Besides, my eldest
brother was always disobedient to my father. At times, he went as far
as hurting his father’s feelings. My father says that if he allows his
property to be divided equally among his four sons, he is doing an
injustice to the three of us who shared in the building. I will be
grateful for your advice. May I ask you why are you giving only the
possibilities of a division among the four sons or three of them only,
excluding your sisters who are, I understand, married? If we are
speaking of inheritance, daughters, whether married or not, have shares
in their deceased parents’ property. Allah states in the Qur’an :
“Allah netmands you (in matters of inheritance) with respect to your
children that a male child inherits an amount equal to the shares of
two females.” This is a perfectly clear order which assigns a share of
inheritance to every daughter. If it is a gift by a father to some of
his children that we are talking about, I would like to remind you that
the Prophet has condemned this as injustice. He refused to witness it.
Having said that, I do understand your father’s feelings. There is an
element of injustice if he does not netpensate you and your two
brothers for the shares you have contributed to the extension of the
family home. However, in order not to be guilty of injustice, your
father should netpensate you for what you have contributed. A fair
value on the contribution of each one of you should be determined by
mutual agreement. He may effect a real deed of sale of the house to the
three of you. What this means is that what each one of you has
contributed should be determined. The house can be then divided into
four portions, one to your father and one to each one of you, according
to his contribution. The sale may be effected and registered. In this
case, your father would be giving you back what you have contributed in
order to bring about justice among not only his four sons, but also his
daughters. When he dies, the family home does not count as part of his
estate to be inherited by his heirs, but only his portion in the house
is counted as such. The other heirs will [Added: also] have their
shares as Allah has given to them. In this way, no disinheritance of
the eldest son is made. Nor are your sisters deprived of their shares
either. Alternatively, the three of you may buy the house as a whole
and pay your father for his share. But this should be an actual
purchase. You should pay the price which must be a fair one, not a
nominal one. In either of these ways, you help your father act within
the rules of Islamic law.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )