Children

Children’s And Grandchildren’s Share

The Sons

The son who is alone without his parents and without one of the spouses ??? shall inherit all the estate. And so shall inherit two sons or many sons. If there are daughters and sons, they shall divide the estate according to the rule “the share of one male is equal to that of two females. The son shall bar the sons of the sons (grandchidren), the brothers, the sisters, and the grandparents by consensus. The son of the son is like like the son in his absence also by consensus.

The Daughters

Imámís say: If one daughter or more are to be alone without the parents and one of the spouses, the daughter shall inherit all the estate; one half as the Obligatory Share (Fardh), and the other half as a Reject (Radd???). Two daughters also would inherit two thirds as Obligatory Shares, the rest as Reject. The agnates shall not inherit at all.

Jurists of the four Sunni schools f thought say: Sisters of the two parents or of of the father (???) are considered agnates along with the daughter or the daughters. The meaning of this is that one daughter of the tw parents or of the father (???) shall inherit half as an Obligatory Share in case there is no male and female child. Two daughters or more shall inherit two thirds as an Obligatory Share in case there is no boy (???). If the deseaced has a daughter or many daughters or daughter of a his son, and he also has a sister or sisters from the two parents or from the father, and there is no brother with the sister or the sisters, The sister or sisters shall take whatever is left from the share of the daughter or the daughters as Agnate Share. The sister of the two parents will then be considered exactly like the brother of the parents in agate rights and in barring the son of the brother of the father and whoever follows amongst the agnates. The sister of a father would be considered the same as the agnate brother of the father, and she will bar the son of the brother of two parents and whoever follows amongst the agnates. [al-Mughnee, vol. 6, p. 168, third edition, and al-Mirath fi alshari’ah al-Islamiyyah by al Sa’eediee, p. 12, fifth edition.]

Imámís say: None -amongst the sisters and brothers- shall inherit along with the daughter or the daughters, nor with the daughter of the son, nor with the daughter of the daughter. That is because the daughter -though dropped- is of the first order, while the brothers are of the second order.

\anafís and \anbalís say: In case there are no residuaries, nor agnates, nor heirs except the daughters; the whole estate shall be (huzina?Khuzina?) as Obligatory Share and Agnate Share. Otherwise, if there are a parent (father) with the daughters, he shall take whatever is left from the Obligatory Share. If not then the grandfather from the father side. If not then the brother of the two parents. If not, then the brother of the father /??. If not, then the son of the brother of the two parents. If not, then the son of the brother of the father. If not, then the paternal uncle of the two parents. If not, then the paternal uncle of the father???. If not then the son of the paternal uncle of the two parents. If not, then the son of the paternal uncle of the father. If none of these agnates exists, and the residuaries also like the sisters, then the daughters shall inherit the whole estate even if the deseaced has grandchilren of his daughters and children of his daughters, daughters of his brothers, sons of maternal brothers, aunts from any side, a paternal uncle from the mother side, maternal uncles and aunts, and a grandfather of the mother.

Málikís and Sháfi`ís say: Id this is the situation, the daughter or each of the daughters shall take her Obligatory Share, and the rest shall be returned to the state treasury. [al-Mughnee, vol.6, chapter al-Fara’idh and kashf al-Haqa’iq, vol. 2, p. 356]

The Grandchildren

They disagreed in the case where the deceased is survived by his own children and his grandchildren. Jurists of the Four Sunni schools of law have concurred that the son will prevent the grandchildren regardless of them being male or female. That is, the grandchildren will not be able to inherit along with the son of the deceased. If the deceased is survived by a daughter and grandchildren from his son; the daughter shall inherit half (½) in case of the grandchildren being males only or males and females, the other half shall be distributed amongst the grandchildren according to the principle “one share of the male equals that of two females”. In case of the grandchildren are made out of one or more females, then the daughter shall inherit half, the granddaughter or granddaughters one sixth, and the rest goes to the sister. [al-Mughnee, vol.6, 2nd edition, p. 172]

If the deceased is survived by two daughters and his son’s children, one would have to see:

If there is no male amongst the son’s children, then they shall not inherit.

If there is a male amongst the son’s children, then the two daughter or more would take two thirds and the rest goes to the son’s children divided amongst them according to the principle “one share of the male equals that of two females”. [Al-Mughnee, vol. 6, p. 170 & 172]

The daughter bars/prevents the children of the another daughter the same way the son bars/prevents the son’s son.

If the deceased does not have any children at all –neither males not females—but has grandchildren, jurists of all four schools of thought concur that the grandson would play the same role as the son in bar/prwevention and agnation etc. If there are sister with the son’s son, then they shall inherit the estate according to principle “one share of the male equals that of two females”. Jurists from the four Sunni schools concur also that the son’s daughters have the same status as uternal daughters in their absence, hence for one one half of the estate, two thirds for two or more, they bar/prevent the sisters from the mother’s side, and they share the estate according to principle “one share of the male equals that of two females” in case there are son’s son with them regardless of the son’s son being a brother to them or paternal uncle’s son. Overall, the son’s daughter has the same status as that of the daughter. In other words, the son’s children are exactly similar to the deceased’s children. [Al-Mughnee, vol. 6, p. 169.]

The daughter’s children however –males and females—do not inherit at all according to the Málikís and Sháfi`ís because they are of the `Blood Ties’ category. If there are no residuaries nor agnates, the daughters’ children will be barred from inheriting the estate and it shall be given in its entirety to the treasury. The same ruling is held concerning the deceased’s son’s daughters’ children.

\anafís and \anbalís say: the daughter’s children and the son’s daughters’ children shall inherit if there are(?) no residuaries nor agnates. [Al-Mughnee, vol. 6, chapter on Dhawee al-Arhaam; and Kashf al-Haqa'’q, vol. 2, p. 255]

This was the summary of the opinions of the jurists of the four Sunni schools of Law concerning the inheritance of the grandchildren in the absence of the children. Imámís say: The grandchildren shall have the status of the children in their absence. Hence each of them shall take the share of whoever was the cause of his relationship to the deceased. For instance, the daughter’s children –even if they are more than one and even if they are males—take one third; and the son’s children – even if they are just one and even if they are a female—take two thirds; they divide it amongst themselves equally if they are of the same gender and according to principle “one share of the male equals that of two females” if they are of different gender; regardless of them being son’s children or daughter’s children. <Additionally, the distent will be bared/prevented by the close, they share with the deceased’s parents just like their parents, and return over the daughter’s children the same way it is returned over her be it male or female, and if there is a husband or a wife with them then they shall take the lower share.>? [al-Jawaahir, al-Masaalik and other jurisprudence books by the Imámís. The complete statement however is by sheykh Ahmed Kaashif al-Ghita’ in his book Safeenat al-Najaat. I have chosen it over my own statement in my book al-Fusool al-Shar’iyyah because it was more inclusive and more elequent.]