Learn Mirath (Islamic Law of Inheritance) -- Your Half of Knowledge

Bismillah

Learn the Islamic Law of Inheritance -- half of your knowledge

The law of inheritance is one of the most difficult subjects to learn. However, there is nothing difficult with Allah's help. Therefore, make du'a to Allah to make your journey easy 

One of the keys of understanding sacred knowldge is what Allah mentions in the Quran.

وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَيُعَلِّمُكُمُ اللَّهُ وَاللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ ‎﴿البقرة: ٢٨٢﴾‏

And fear Allah. And Allah teaches you. And Allah is Knowing of all things. (Quran, al Baqarah 3:282)

So if you want the knowledge, Allah guaranteed that He will give it to you but with the condition that you should have taqwa. The taqwa here is to put your best effort to understand it and try to apply it.

There are many secrets in the law of inheritance. One of them is with the fact that Allah commanded us in the Quran to pray, fast, pay zakat and perform hajj (pillars of Islam). However, He did not explain the details in the Quran and leave it to the Sunnah. But when it comes to inheritance, He explains it in detail in the Quran. This to show the importance of mirath. 

There are three things that Allah took care of them by Himself. He did not leave it to the people to figure out the division -- i.e zakat, booty (ghanima), inheritance. All these are related to money.

The first branch of knowledge to be taken away from the ummah is knowledge of inheritance. The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace), said:

“Learn inheritance and teach it for it is half the knowledge and it will be forgotten, and it is the first thing to be ripped from my Ummah.” [Ibn Majah 2710]

The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) also said:

"Learn inheritance and teach it to people for I am a mortal being and knowledge will decrease until two people would differ among themselves over inheritance, but wouldn’t find an arbitrator.” [Nisa’i 6305]

Omar ibn Al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), used to say,

O People, learn Fara-idh with the same concern and effort with which you learn from the Qur'an.

It was also said that Umar said (in the meaning of), if you want to have play, play archery, if you want to speak, speak about mirath (inheritance).

عَنِ ابْنِ شِهَابٍ قَالَ لَوْ هَلَكَ عُثْمَانُ بْنُ عَفَّانَ وَزَيْدُ بْنُ ثَابِتٍ فِي بَعْضِ الزَّمَانِ لَهَلَكَ عِلْمُ الْفَرَائِضِ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ ، وَلَقَدْ جَاءَ عَلَى النَّاسِ زَمَانٌ وَمَا يَعْلَمُهَا غَيْرُهُمَا

All of these give us the indication of the importance of learning law of inheritance.

It is incumbent upon each of us to learn Islamic law of inheritance and apply it. Otherwise you might be denying the rights of certain people or you might be eating wealth that is unlawful for you if you take someone else's inheritance. 

May Allah save us from ignorance and enable us to learn, teach and apply inheritance law properly, and save us and our families from the trials and tribulations in this life and the next. Ameen.