Transliteration:( Wa lakum nisfu maa taraka azwaajukum il lam yakul lahunna walad; fa in kaana lahunna waladun falakumur rub'u mimmaa tarakna mim ba'di wasiyyatiny yooseena bihaaa aw dayn; wa lahunnar rubu'u mimmaa taraktum il lam yakul lakum walad; fa in kaana lakum waladun falahunnas sumunu mimmaa taraktum; mim ba'di wasiyyatin toosoona bihaaa aw dayn; wa in kaana rajuluny yoorasu kalaalatan awim ra atunw wa lahooo akhun aw ukhtun falikulli waahidim minhumas sudus; fa in kaanooo aksara min zaalika fahum shurakaaa'u fissulus; mim ba'di wasiyyatiny yoosaa bihaaa aw dainin ghaira mudaaarr; wasiyyatam minal laah; wallaahu 'Aleemun Haleem )
44. In the bequest left behind by the wife. includes her trousseau, goods given by her husband, her personal jewelry, and her Mehr (Dowry) is incumbent upon the husband. The same laws mentioned earlier would govern this bequest.
45. By "children" it meant children born from them (the wives) either from you or from their previous marriage; either a boy or a girl. The word 'child is used to denote both a boy and a girl. The Arabic "Bin" is used to indicate a son and bint to denote a daughter. The word 'child grand daughter and grandson are also included.
46. Here the word 'children' refer to children bearing one's family lineage. Hence, the maternal grandson or granddaughter would not be included herein, because family lineage comes from the paternal grandfather, not the maternal grandfather. Hence, there is no inconsistency in the verse.
47. Whether you have one wife or more than one, the law applied would be the same, i.e.
you would be entitled to one-quarter of the share from their bequest. OR one-eighth.Â
48. The own children of the deceased will reduce the wife's share of the legacy to one-eighth, which are born from that father or mother respectively. Hence, this verse cannot be taken as proof of which the Rafzees have their claim. They say that the Holy Prophet's wives had no share in the property of the Holy Prophet's صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم. Because none had any children as the Holy QURAN does not stipulate that the children should be from you.Â
In this case, the word "From you" should have been used in the verse. It should be remembered that paternal grandchildren are included in the word "children".
49. The general use of "what" shows that the share would be in the moveable and immoveable property left behind by the deceased.
50. It should be remembered that a will is not permissible for an heir, and a will is not permissible for more than a third of a legacy. If there is a will for more than a third, it will
only be acceptable for one-third not for more.Â
51. In this debt the Mehr(Dowry) of the wife is also included. Hence, first the Mehr(Dowry has to be deducted from the property of the deceased husband, thereafter shares will be distributed to the various heirs. The present practice of not taking the Mehr (Dowry) into account before the distribution is incorrect.
52. From this a few issues with respect o inheritance become apparent:
1. A childless person is one who has no heir i.e. either parents, grandparents, children, etc.
2. That uterine brothers and sisters, whose fathers are different, can be regarded as a ZI-FARD.
3. In the case of uterine children the share to the brother and sister would be equal, but in this case, the son will receive twice as much as the daughter.
53. As the uterine brothers and sisters are entitled to a share because of the mother, and a mother under no circumstances is entitled to receive more than a third of the legacy, Hence her children will not be entitled to receive more than that (KHAZAIN).Â
It should be remembered that in the issue of inheritance and Salaah by the congregation, two persons, too, are included in the congregation. Many enjoy the same rights as two. With two followers, too, the Iman would lead the congregation as he would stand if the congregation is more than two. The same meaning is to be taken by this Hadith i.e. two or
more constitute a congregation.Â
54. From this we learn that an illegal will would not be acceptable and will have no bearing on the distribution of the bequest.
There are three reasons for an illegal will.
1. If the will is directed at an heir.
2. If a will is made to exceed one-third of the bequest then only one-third will be lawful.
3. If the will is made to spend the bequest on any unlawful thing e.g. those who mourn for me should be paid an X amount, a certain: amount should be donated to a Hindu or Christian temple, as all this is forbidden for a Muslim to do, and such a will would therefore not be executed.
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12. In that which your wives leave, your share is half if they have no child; but if they leave a child, you get a fourth of that which they leave after payment of legacies that they may have bequeathed or debts. In that which you leave, their (your wives) share is a fourth if you leave no child; but if you leave a child, they get an eighth of that which you leave after payment of legacies that you may have bequeathed or debts. If the man or woman whose inheritance is in Kalalah has left neither ascendants nor descendants, but has left a brother or a sister, each one of the two gets a sixth; but if more than two, they share in a third; after payment of legacies he (or she) may have bequeathed or debts, so that no loss is caused (to anyone). This is a Commandment from Allah; and Allah is Ever All-Knowing, Most Forbearing.
Allah says to the husband, you get half of what your wife leaves behind if she dies and did not have a child. If she had a child, you get one-fourth of what she leaves behind, after payment of legacies that she may have bequeathed, or her debts. We mentioned before that payment of debts comes before fulfilling the will, and then comes the will, then the inheritance, and there is a consensus on this matter among the scholars. And the rule applies to the grandchildren as well as the children, even if they are great-grandchildren (or even further in generation) Allah then said,
(In that which you leave, their (your wives) share is a fourth) and if there is more than one wife, they all share in the fourth, or one-eighth that the wife gets. Earlier, we explained Allah’s statement,
(After payment of legacies)
Allah said,
(If the man or woman whose inheritance is in question was left in Kalalah.) Kalalah is a derivative of Iklil; the crown that surrounds the head. The meaning of Kalalah in this Ayah is that the person’s heirs come from other than the first degree of relative. Ash-Sha`bi reported that when Abu Bakr As-Siddiq was asked about the meaning of Kalalah, he said, “I will say my own opinion about it, and if it is correct, then this correctness is from Allah. However, if my opinion is wrong, it will be my error and because of the evil efforts of Shaytan, and Allah and His Messenger have nothing to do with it. Kalalah refers to the man who has neither descendants nor ascendants.” When `Umar became the Khalifah, he said, “I hesitate to contradict an opinion of Abu Bakr.” This was recorded by Ibn Jarir and others. In his Tafsir, Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that Ibn `Abbas said, “I was among the last persons to see `Umar bin Al-Khattab, and he said to me, `What you said was the correct opinion.’ I asked, `What did I say’ He said, `That Kalalah refers to the person who has no child or parents.”’ This is also the opinion of `Ali bin Abi Talib, Ibn Mas`ud, Ibn `Abbas, Zayd bin Thabit, Ash-Sha`bi, An-Nakha`i, Al-Hasan Al-Basri, Qatadah, Jabir bin Zayd and Al-Hakam . This is also the view of the people of Al-Madinah, Kufah, Basrah, the Seven Fuqaha’, the Four Imams and the majority of scholars of the past and present, causing some scholars to declare that there is a consensus on this opinion.
Allah said,
(But has left a brother or a sister), meaning, from his mother’s side, as some of the Salaf stated, including Sa`d bin Abi Waqqas. Qatadah reported that this is the view of Abu Bakr As-Siddiq.
(Each one of the two gets a sixth; but if more than two, they share in a third.) There is a difference between the half brothers from the mother’s side and the rest of the heirs. First, they get a share in the inheritance on account of their mother. Second, the males and females among them get the same share. Third, they only have a share in the inheritance when the deceased’s estate is inherited in Kalalah, for they do not have a share if the deceased has a surviving father, grandfather, child or grandchild. Fourth, they do not have more than a third, no matter how numerous they were. aAllah’s statement,
(After payment of legacies he (or she) may have bequeathed or debts, so that no loss is caused (to anyone).) means, let the will and testament be fair and free of any type of harm, without depriving some rightful heirs from all, or part of their share, or adding to the fixed portion that Allah or dained for some heirs. Indeed, whoever does this, will have disputed with Allah concerning His decision and division. An authentic Hadith states,
(Allah has given each his fixed due right. Therefore, there is no will for a rightful inheritor.)
(4:12) And to you belongs half of whatever has been left behind by your wives if they die childless; but if they have any children then to you belongs a fourth of what they have left behind, after payment of the bequest they might have made or any debts outstanding against them. And to them belongs a fourth of what you leave behind, if you die childless; and if you have any child then to them belongs one-eighth of what you have left behind,[22] after the payment of the bequest you might have made or any debts outstanding against you.[18] And if the man or woman has no heir in the direct line, but has a brother or sister, then each of these shall inherit one-sixth; but if they are more than two, then they shall inherit one-third of the inheritance,[23] after the payment of the bequest that might have been made or any debts outstanding against the deceased, providing that the bequest causes no injury.[24] This is a commandment from Allah; Allah is All-Knowing, All-Forbearing.[25]
22. Whether a man has one wife or several wives the share of the wife/wives is one-eighth of the inheritance when the deceased has issue, and one-fourth when he has no issue. The share of the wives, whether one-fourth or one-eighth, will be distributed equally among them.
23. The remaining five-sixths or two-thirds of the inheritance goes to the legal heirs, if any. Where there are no legal heirs, the person concerned is entitled to make a bequest with regard to the remaining part of the inheritance. Commentators are agreed that the sisters and brothers mentioned here mean half-brothers and half-sisters, i.e. those who have kinship with the deceased on the mother’s side. Injunctions affecting full brothers and sisters, and half-brothers and half-sisters on the father’s side are mentioned towards the end of the present surah. See (Surah An-Nisa, ayat 176) note 219.
24.’Bequests which cause injury’ are those that entail depriving deserving kin of their legitimate rights. Similarly, the debt which causes injury is the fake debt which one falsely admits to owing, and any other device to which one resorts merely in order to deprive the rightful heirs of their shares in inheritance. This kind of injury has been declared to be a major sin in a tradition from the Prophet (peace be on him). According to another tradition the Prophet (peace be on him) said that even if a man worked all his life, like the men of Paradise, yet ended his life’s record by making a wrongful bequest, he would be consigned to Hell. (Ibn Kathir, vol. 2, p. 218.) Such an act of deliberate injury and calculated effort designed to deprive people of their due rights is always a sin, but it is mentioned by God particularly in the case of kalalah (the person who leaves behind neither parents nor descendants). (For kalalah see nn. 219 ff. below – Ed.) The reason for this seems to be that a man who has neither issue nor parents is often prone to squander his property and somehow prevent his distant relatives from receiving any share in the inheritance.
25. God’s knowledge is referred to here for two reasons. First, to stress that if a man violates God’s Law he will not be able to escape from the grip of God, for He is Omniscient. Second, to emphasize that the shares in inheritance fixed by God are absolutely sound, for God knows better than His creatures where their true interests lie. Reference is also made to God’s forbearance. This is in order to point out that harshness could not characterize the laws laid down by God in respect of inheritance since He Himself is not harsh. On the contrary, the aim of God’s laws is to prevent people suffering inconvenience and hardship.
25a. This is a terrifying verse in which those who either tamper with God’s laws of inheritance or violate the legal bounds categorically laid down by God in His Book are warned of unending punishment. It is lamentable that, in spite of these very stern warnings, Muslims have occasionally been guilty of breaching God’s laws with the same boldness and insolence as that of the Jews. Disobedience to God’s law of inheritance has occasionally assumed the proportion of open rebellion against Him. In some instances, women have been disinherited altogether. In others, the eldest son has been declared the only legal heir. There are also instances where the entire system of inheritance distribution has been replaced by the system of joint family property. In still other instances, the shares of women have been made equal to those of men. In our time a few Muslim states, in imitation of the West, even contrived a new form of disobedience. This consists of imposing death duties so that governments, too, become one of the heirs of the deceased, an heir whose share God had altogether failed to mention! This is despite the fact that under Islamic dispensation governments may assume control of a dead man’s inheritance only if it is either unclaimed or if the person concerned has specifically so bequeathed part of his inheritance.
26. In these two (Surah An-Nisa, ayat 15-16) the first, preliminary directives for the punishment for unlawful sexual intercourse are stated. The first verse deals with women. The punishment laid down was to confine them until further directives were revealed. The second verse (Surah An-Nisa, ayat 16) relates to both sexes. The injunction lays down that they should be punished – that is, they should be beaten and publicly reproached. Later, another injunction was revealed see (Surah Nur, ayat 2) which laid down that both the male and female should be given a hundred lashes. These injunctions are necessarily of a preliminary nature since the people of Arabia were neither used to obeying the orders of any established government, the verdicts of any courts of law nor to following any legal code; it would therefore have been unwise to try to force acceptance of a penal code upon them so soon after the establishment of the Islamic state. In due course, the punishments for unlawful sexual intercourse, for slanderous accusations of unchastity against women, and for theft were laid down in their definitive form and served as the basis of that detailed penal code which was enforced by the Prophet (peace be on him) and the Rightly-Guided Caliphs.
The apparent difference between the contents of the two verses led al-Suddi to the misconceived belief that the first verse lays down the punishment for married women, and the second that for unmarried men and women. This is a tenuous explanation unsupported by any serious evidence and argument. Even less convincing is the opinion expressed by Abu Muslim al-Isfahani that the first verse relates to lesbian relations between females, and the second to homosexual relations between males. It is strange that al-Isfahani ignored the basic fact that the Qur’an seeks merely to chart a broad code of law and morality and hence deals only with fundamental questions. It is inconsistent with the majestic style of the Qur’an to discuss secondary details which have been left to people to decide through the exercise of their legal judgement. It is for this reason that when the problem of fixing a punishment for sodomy came up for consideration after the time of the Prophet (peace be on him), none of the Companions thought that the above-mentioned verse contained any relevant injunction.
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