Level 1(d): Two or more categories of heirs with at least two having fixed shares
Rule D: If the denominators of the shares are the same, that is the base number.
Example 7
| Heirs | Husband | Sister |
| Shares | ½ | ½ |
| Base number | 2 | |
| Portions | 1 | 1 |
Estate is divided into 2 portions. Each heir inherits 1.
Example 8
| Heirs | Grandmother | Uterine sister | Consanguine brother |
| Shares | 1/6 | 1/6 | Residue |
| Base number | 6 | ||
| Portions | 1 | 1 | 4 |
Base number = 6; that is clear.
Grandmother: 6 × 1/6 = 1 portion
Uterine sister: 6 × 1/6 = 1 portion
Consanguine brother: 6 – 1 – 1 = 4 portions
Rule E: When the denominator of one share is a multiple of the denominator of the other share, the higher one is the base number
Example 9
| Heirs | Wife | Daughter | Half uncle |
| Shares | 1/8 | ½ | Residue |
| Base number | 8 | ||
| Portions | 1 | 4 | 3 |
Wife: 8 × 1/8 = 1 portion
Daughter: 8 × ½ = 4 portions
Half uncle: 8 – 1 – 4 = 3 portions or 8 – (1 + 4) = 3 portions
Example 10
| Heirs | 2 full sisters | Uterine brother | Grandmother |
| Shares | 2/3 | 1/6 | 1/6 |
| Base number | 6 | ||
| Portions | Each sister = 2 | 1 | 1 |
Base number is the LCM of 3, 6 and 6 = 6.
2 full sisters: 6 × 2/3 = 4 portions. Each full sister gets 2 portions.
Uterine brother: 6 × 1/6 = 1 portion
Grandmother: 6 × 1/6 = 1 portion
Rule F: In a situation whereby the denominator of the shares are parallel, multiply them and the solution is the base number.
Example 11
| Heirs | 2 daughters | Wife | Full uncle’s son |
| Shares | 2/3 | 1/8 | Residue |
| Base number | 24 | ||
| Portions | Each daughter = 8 | 3 | 5 |
2 daughters: 24 × 2/3 = 16 portions. Each daughter receives 8 portions.
Wife: 24 × 1/8 = 3 portions
Full uncle’s son: 24 – 16 – 3 = 5 portions or 24 – (16 + 3) = 5 portions
Example 12
| Heirs | Wife | 1 uterine brother; 1 uterine sister |
1 consanguine brother; 3 consanguine sisters |
| Shares | ¼ | 1/3 | Residue |
| Base number | 12 | ||
| Portions | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Wife: 12 × ¼ = 3 portions
1 uterine brother and 1 uterine sister: 12 × 1/3 = 4 portions. Each is given 2 portions because two or more uterines share 1/3 of the estate equally irrespective of whether they are males or females.
1 consanguine brother and 3 consanguine sisters: 12 – (3 + 4) = 5 portions. Consanguine brother gets 2 portions while each consanguine sister inherits 1 portion.
Exercise 1
The heirs of a deceased are two daughters, mother, father, brother and sister. How will the estate be allotted to them?
Solution
Quick links
- Introduction
- Male heirs
- Female heirs
- Non heirs
- Impediments to inheritance
- Exclusion
- Exclusion – Part 2
- Exclusion – Part 3
- Note on difference of opinion
- Inheritance of children
- Inheritance of spouses
- Inheritance of parents
- Inheritance of grandparents
- Inheritance of siblings
- Residuaries (‘Asabah)
- Partial exclusion
- Inheritance arithmetic (“inherithmetic”)
- Procedure of solving inheritance problems
- Levels of inheritance problems (Level one)
- Lowest Common Multiple (LCM)
- YOU ARE HERE: Level one – continued
- Highest Common Factor (HCF)
- Prime numbers
- Increment of base number (‘Awl)
- Level two – Part 1
- Level two – Part 2
- Level two – Part 3
- Level two – Part 4
- Level three
- Inheritance of grandfather along with siblings
- Inheritance of grandfather along with siblings in the presence of other heirs
- Special cases
- Summary of rules
- Further reading
- Solutions to exercises
Your Questions, Our Answers
We have received a number of emails from those who visited this website or downloaded and read INHERITANCE IN ISLAM. Almost all of them were questions on either aspects of inheritance not covered in the book or clarifications needed regarding specific cases. Hence, we thought it wise to reproduce the emails so that others may benefit as well. As always, we welcome suggestions, criticisms and of course, more questions!