بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
ِInheritance is known as 'Fara-idh' (plural 'Fareedah') in Arabic, which means something that has been fixed, set or determined. This branch of knowledge is known as 'Fara-idh' because it has been fixed by Allah in the Quran (Surah An-Nisaa verses 11, 12 and 176).
Islamic inheritance laws are there to preserve certain things, and among those things, is to preserve our families and societies. It gives balance to our lives. In the family, we learn our first lessons of God and creation, love and discipline, rights and responsibilities, human dignity and human frailty. The strength of our families is vital to our well-being. When inheritance law is not applied, families break apart and we lose the strength and we lose the balance.
Still, many Muslims ignored and abandoned this Islamic teaching and follow the ways and the practices of non-Muslims, in which one person or only a few selected ones would be given or receive the inheritance.
Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says,
وَلِلَّهِ مُلْكُ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌ ﴿١٨٩﴾
And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and Allah is over all things competent. [Quran, AleImran 3:189]
Allah owns everything we have and everything that we will leave behind after we die. The topic of inheritance is so important that Allah details the distribution of our wealth in the Quran and He reminds us of the subject again at the end of the long Surah, and tells us,
...يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمْ أَن تَضِلُّوا۟ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عَلِيمُۢ ﴿١٧٦﴾
... Allah makes clear to you [His law], so you don't go astray. And Allah is Knowing of all things. [Quran, An-Nisaa 4:176]
We don't think inheritance as being the hudud (boundaries) set by Allah. Sometimes we don't even think that it is an important matter. Allah says after specifying the distribution of inheritance,
تِلْكَ حُدُودُ ٱللَّهِ ۚ وَمَن يُطِعِ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥ يُدْخِلْهُ جَنَّٰتٍ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهَا ٱلْأَنْهَٰرُ خَٰلِدِينَ فِيهَا ۚ وَذَٰلِكَ ٱلْفَوْزُ ٱلْعَظِيمُ ﴿١٣﴾
وَمَن يَعْصِ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥ وَيَتَعَدَّ حُدُودَهُۥ يُدْخِلْهُ نَارًا خَٰلِدًا فِيهَا وَلَهُۥ عَذَابٌ مُّهِينٌ ﴿١٤﴾
These are the limits [set by]
Allah, and whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger will be admitted by Him
to gardens [in Paradise] under which rivers flow, abiding eternally
therein; and that is the great attainment. (13)
And whoever disobeys Allah and His
Messenger and transgresses His limits - He will put him into the Fire to
abide eternally therein, and he will have a humiliating punishment. (14) [Quran, An-Nisaa 4:13-14]
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]
"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]
Umar 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 Quran."
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).It is incumbent upon each of us to learn Islamic 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. May Allah grant us and our families great success in the hereafter and save us from the Fire and humiliating punishment. Aameen.
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