Muslim Inheritance Law:
Is it Injustice to Women?
Sorowar
One of the
aspects of the world-view of Islam is that everything in heaven and
earth belongs to Allah: To Allah belongs all that is in the
heavens and on earth…. (Quran 2: 284). Allah nominated mankind
as His trustees on earth. In order to help mankind fulfill this
trustee-ship, He made the universe serviceable to mankind: And He
(Allah) has subjected to you, as from Him, all that is in the
heavens and earth: behold, in that are signs indeed for those who
reflect (Quran 45:13). It is the human family that is addressed
in the above and in other verses. And that family includes both
genders, it follows that basic right to personal possession of
properties applies to males and females equally.
Islamic Law recognizes the full property rights of women before and
after marriage. Financial security is assured for women. Muslim
mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters had received inheritance
rights thirteen hundred years before Europe recognized that these
rights even existed. It should be noted that in pre-Islamic society,
women themselves were sometimes objects of inheritance. The main
reason of the deprivation of woman of inheritance was the prevention
of transfer of wealth from one family to another. The Qur’an however
, made it clear that both men and women are entitled to a specified
share of the estate of their deceased parents or close relations:
From what is left by parents and those nearest related, there is a
share for men and a share for women, whether the property be small
or large-a determinate share (Qur’an 4:7)
It happened that the brother of Hassan bin Thabit, the famous poet,
died in those very days, leaving behind a wife and several
daughters. His paternal cousins appropriated all his property and
did not give anything to his widow or daughters. The widow
complained to the Holy Prophet who called her deceased husband’s
cousins. They said that a woman was unable to carry arms and to
fight the enemy. It was the men who defended themselves and the
women. Hence, they alone had the right to inherit the property.
Thereupon, the Holy Prophet conveyed to them the command of Allah,
as revealed in the above quoted verse.
The division of inheritance is a vast subject with an enormous
amount of details (4:7,11,12,176). The general rule is that the
female share is half the male’s except the cases in which the mother
receives equal share to that of the father. This general rule if
taken in isolation from other legislations concerning men and women
may seem unfair. In order to understand the rationale behind
this rule, one must take into account the fact that the financial
obligations of men in Islam far exceed those of women.
Women are entitled to receive martial gifts without limit and to
keep present and future properties and income for their own
security, even after marriage. No married woman is required to spend
any amount at all from her property and income on the household. In
special circumstances, however, such as when her husband is ill,
disabled or jobless, she may find it necessary to spend from her
earnings or savings to provide the necessities for her family.
While this is not a legal obligation, it is consistent with the
mutuality of care, love and cooperation among family members. The
woman is entitled also to full financial support during marriage and
during the waiting period (‘iddah) in case of divorce or
widowhood.
Besides, one has to realize that Islam vehemently advocates
family life. It strongly encourages youth to get married,
discourages divorce, and does not regard celibacy as a virtue.
Therefore, in a truly Islamic society, family life is the norm and
single life is the rare exception. That is, almost all marriage-aged
women and men are married in an Islamic society. In light of these
facts, one would appreciate that Muslim men, in general, have
greater financial burdens than Muslim women and thus inheritance
rules are meant to offset this imbalance so that the society lives
free of all gender or class wars. The reasons why man gets more in
these particular instances may be classified as follows:
Firstly,
man, is the person solely responsible for the complete maintenance
of his wife, his family and any other needy relations. It is his
duty by Law to assume all financial responsibilities and maintain
his dependents adequately. It is also his duty to contribute
financially to all good causes in his society. All financial burdens
are borne by him alone.
Secondly,
in contrast, woman has no financial responsibilities. She is
financially secure and provided for. If she is a wife, her husband
is the provider; if she is a mother, it is the son; if she is a
daughter, it is the father; if she is a sister; it is the brother,
and so on. If she has no relations on whom she can depend, then
there is no question of inheritance because there is nothing to
inherit and there is no one to bequeath anything to her. However,
she will not be left to starve; maintenance of such a woman is
the responsibility of the society as a whole, the state. She may
be given aid or a job to earn her living, and whatever money she
makes will be hers. She is not responsible for the maintenance of
anybody else besides herself. If there is a man in her position,
he would still be responsible for his family and possibly any of
his relations who need his help. So, in the hardest situation her
financial responsibility is limited, while his is unlimited.
Thirdly,
when a woman gets less than a man does, she is not actually deprived
of anything that she has worked for. The property inherited is not
the result of her earning or her endeavors. It is something coming
to them from a neutral source, something additional or extra. It is
something that neither man nor woman struggled for. It is a sort of
aid, and any aid has to be distributed according to the urgent needs
and responsibilities especially when the distribution is regulated
by the Law of God.
Now, we have a male heir, on one side, burdened with all kinds of
financial responsibilities and liabilities. We have, on the other
side, a female heir with no financial responsibilities at all or at
most with very little of it. In between we have some property and
aid to redistribute by way of inheritance. If we deprive the female
completely, it would be unjust to her because she is related to the
deceased. Likewise, if we always give her a share equal to the
man’s, it would be unjust to him. So, instead of doing injustice to
either side, Islam gives the man a larger portion of the inherited
property to help him to meet his family needs and social
responsibilities. At the same time, Islam has not forgotten her
altogether, but has given her a portion to satisfy her very personal
needs. In fact, Islam in this respect is being more kind to her than
to him.
Regards,
Sorowar, Singapore
