Tag: Q n A, Bukhari

While I was sick, the Prophet (ﷺ) entered upon me and asked for some water to perform ablution, and
after he had finished his ablution, he sprinkled some water of his ablution over me, whereupon I
became conscious and said, “O Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ)! I have sisters.” Then the Divine Verses regarding the
laws of inheritance were revealed.

Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) gave the judgment that a male or female slave should be given in Qisas for an abortion
case of a woman from the tribe of Bani Lihyan (as blood money for the fetus) but the lady on whom
the penalty had been imposed died, so the Prophets ordered that her property be inherited by her
offspring and her husband and that the penalty be paid by her Asaba.

Mu`adh bin Jabal gave this verdict for us in the lifetime of Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ). One-half of the inheritance
is to be given to the daughter and the other half to the sister. Sulaiman said: Mu`adh gave a verdict for
us, but he did not mention that it was so in the lifetime of Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ).

The person about whom Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “If I were to take a Khalil from this nation (my
followers), then I would have taken him (i.e., Abu Bakr), but the Islamic Brotherhood is better (or
said: good),” regarded a grandfather as the father himself (in inheritance).

(During the early days of Islam), the inheritance used to be given to one’s offspring and legacy used to
be bequeathed to the parents, then Allah cancelled what He wished from that order and decreed that
the male should be given the equivalent of the portion of two females, and for the parents one-sixth
for each of them, and for one’s wife one-eighth (if the deceased has children) and one-fourth (if he has
no children), for one’s husband one-half (if the deceased has no children) and one-fourth (if she has
children).

Abu Musa was asked regarding (the inheritance of) a daughter, a son’s daughter, and a sister. He said,
“The daughter will take one-half and the sister will take one-half. If you go to Ibn Mas`ud, he will tell
you the same.” Ibn Mas`ud was asked and was told of Abu Musa’s verdict. Ibn Mas`ud then said, “If I
give the same verdict, I would stray and would not be of the rightly-guided. The verdict I will give in
this case, will be the same as the Prophet (ﷺ) did, i.e. one-half is for daughter, and one-sixth for the son’s
daughter, i.e. both shares make two-thirds of the total property; and the rest is for the sister.”
Afterwards we cams to Abu Musa and informed him of Ibn Mas`ud’s verdict, whereupon he said, “So,
do not ask me for verdicts, as long as this learned man is among you.”

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Give the Fara’id, (the shares prescribed in the Qur’an) to those who are entitled to
receive it, and then whatever remains, should be given to the closest male relative of the deceased.”

Mu`adh bin Jabal came to us in Yemen as a tutor and a ruler, and we (the people of Yemen) asked him
about (the distribution of the property of ) a man who had died leaving a daughter and a sister. Mu`adh
gave the daughter one-half of the property and gave the sister the other half.

Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “Give the Fara’id (shares prescribed in the Qur’an) to those who are entitled to
receive it; and whatever remains, should be given to the closest male relative of the deceased.’

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Give the Fara’id (the shares of the inheritance that are prescribed in the Qur’an) to
those who are entitled to receive it. Then whatever remains, should be given to the closest male
relative of the deceased .”