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Question: Why is the inheritance of women half that of men?

Difference in Inheritance of Women and Men in Islamic Jurisprudence


Skeptics and critics claim that women have less rights in Islam, and they claim that inheritance involving women is one of the reasons why. They claim it is unjust as to why women inherit half as much money, as compared to the share the males get. Allah, the Exalted, stated in the Glorious Qur'an: (Allah commands you as regards to your children's (inheritance); to the male, a portion equal to that of two females.) [4:11] Those who misunderstand Islam claim that Islam does injustice to women in terms of inheritance. They opine that it is unfair to grant the male a double to that of the female even though they are children of the same parents. Allah, the Exalted, offered a full and detailed method of women's inheritance in the Qur'an and Sunnah, and if an unbiased student of knowledge reflects on the details, he or she will discover the fault of this opinion. To begin with, Allah has determined all the shares of all the relatives in respect to their relationship to the deceased. As He the Most Wise said: (There is a share for men and a share for women from what is left by parents and those nearest related, whether the property is small or large, an obligatory share.) [4:7]

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Is This Not A Type of Favoritism?


Before answering this question, it is necessary to remember that the rule that states that the portion of inheritance of a man is twice that of a woman is not true across the board. In some cases we find that men and women take an equal sum of inheritance, like for instance the father and the mother of the deceased who take an equal amount of inheritance. In this case there is no difference between man and woman.

In Islam, there are three other alike cases regarding inheritance: 1) Women inherit as much as men. 2) Women inherit more than men. 3) Women inherit while men don't.

Variables That Control Values of Inheritance:


The variables that control values of inheritances are: 1) Closeness to the deceased. 2) Responsibility of the inheriting generation, which means that the young generations inherit more than the older ones because they are facing more responsibilities, and are obliged to look after the older ones.. Now, let's have some examples for the above-mentioned cases.

1) Women Inherit As Much As Men:


If a person dies leaving the two parents and even one child, each of the two parents inherits a sixth of the inheritance; the Qur'an rules that: *{For parents, a sixth share of inheritance to each if the deceased left children.}* (An-Nisaa' 4:11) Also, the brothers and sisters of the deceased from the same mother all inherit equal portions.
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2) Women Inherit More Than Men:


If a person dies leaving one full sister and three half-brothers (by the father), the full sister gets half the inheritance, and the other half is distributed equally among the three half-brothers.

3) Women Inherit While Men Don't:


If a woman dies leaving a husband, a full sister, and a brother by her father, the husband gets half the inheritance and the sister gets the other half, and the half-brother gets nothing at all. But if there is not any full sister, the half-brother gets her share (i.e. half). So as you can see now, the case is not always that a woman gets half what the man inherits. It depends on the closeness of the deceased. Case Study Regarding The Issue: As for the first case, when women inherit less than men, it may sound unfair to you, but let me explain the responsibility of men and women in Islam through the following example. Consider, for example, that the sum total of all the wealth of the world is 30 billion pounds. Say that this wealth was distributed by means of inheritance between men and women. From this amount of money, 20 billion pounds went to men and 10 billion went to women. Since women do not have to spend on themselves, they can save that 10 billion and become partners with the men in the remaining 20 billion (since the portion of men is spent on women and children). So half of the portion of men, which is 10 billion pounds, goes to women. When we add this amount to the portion that the women saved from before, their sum total becomes 20 billion pounds. By taking into consideration what was just said, we can say that the reasons that womens portion of inheritance is less than that of mens are three:

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1) Dowry: At the time of getting married, man is responsible to take into consideration a suitable dowry for the woman. Whenever the woman asks for it, the man is responsible to give it to her. So from the beginning, man is religiously responsible to allot an amount of money as the dowry of his wife. If a person dies leaving 150,000 dollars and a son and a daughter, the son gets 100,000 and the daughter only 50,000. There are two scenarios that may happen after this inheritance is distributed. One is that both of them may get married. In Islam, the man pays the bridal money or dower gift to the bride. So the son will spend about 25,000 and the daughter will receive the same amount. Now both of them have 75,000.

2) Allowance: Then after marriage, aside from the fact that a man must look after his own expenses, he is also responsible for the household expenses of his wife and children, while the wife keeps her money. For amongst the responsibilities of a man is the provision of food, clothes, and shelter for his wife that is in line with her social status. Even if a woman were to have a large amount of wealth, she has no responsibility in this regards. Not only does a woman have no obligation in this regards, but if she wanted to, she could ask of a wage for the work she does at home such as breastfeeding her children, cooking, etc. The responsibility of upkeep is to such an extent that even if a womans social position necessitates her having a servant and she herself does not have the means to pay for such a person, the salary of the aforementioned servant is upon her husband.

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If the woman is not married, still her male relatives have the responsibility to spend on her. If she is a mother, it is her son's responsibility; if she is a daughter, it is her father's responsibility; if she is a sister, it is her brother's responsibility. Even if she has no male relatives, according to Islamic teachings, the society as a whole has the responsibility to provide for such a woman. Islam is about perfect justice for both the man and the woman. If the son and the daughter get equal shares, this will be really unjust to the son. So, prior to passing any judgment about "unfair treatment" of Islam to women in terms of inheritance' one must examine this subject closely and he will definitely clinch in all practicality, it is woman who has more of a portion of wealth than man. 3) Special Responsibilities of Man: Some very heavy responsibilities have been placed on mens shoulders; responsibilities that women have been excused from. A good example is warfare in the path of Allah (awj). A man must wage war with his life and his wealth. In some of the verses of the Noble Qur`an war by means of wealth has even been placed ahead of war by means of life. A man must spend from his own pocket the expenses of his going to war. Or when someone is killed by another person, the men of the family of the culprit must pay money to the victims family, but women are freed form such an expense.

Further Arguments:
Islams position on inheritance is in reality to the benefit of the woman. In the Age of Ignorance, the daughters and wives of the deceased were deprived of inheritance and all of the wealth of the deceased went to his sons. Islam, however, came and annulled the laws of the ignorant times and made women amongst the inheritors of the deceased. From its inception,
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Islam gave women an independence in ownership and monetary matters, this being a matter that has only but recently entered the laws of European nations. Even though apparently the inheritance of a man is double that of a woman, when we probe into the matter more thoroughly, we find that the inheritance of a woman is two times that of a man. The responsibilities that have been placed on the shoulders of men necessitates that they spend half of their income on women. Any given man is obligated to spend money on his spouses home, clothes, food, and other expenses, while the cost of living of himself and his children are on his shoulders. These responsibilities are on the shoulders of men, whereas we see that women are exempted from paying any living expenses, including their own whether that be clothes or food. In contrast to all the other societies, Islamic Jurisprudence stipulates the rules and regulations about all the affairs of a man, from big to small, to bring harmony to their lives. Just like a person has specific instructions for how to live and use his money in his lifetime, his wealth after his death is dealt with the same way. Unlike other social systems, a person can generally do with his wealth in his life however he wants but his will has certain restrictions according to the Islamic Law. Through his will he can only give 1/3 of his wealth to whoever he wants, all the rest is distributed according to the law of inheritance derived from the Qur'an. In the famous tradition; the companion Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqqas was ill and requested to bequest the majority of his wealth as charity, or a half of it since he was wealthy and only had one daughter. The Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon Him) forbade him and only allowed him to give a third, and said : "A third and a third is a lot, and it is better that you leave your heirs wealthy rather than leave them needy begging from the people. You will not spend anything seeking Allah's countenance but you receive a reward for that expenditure, even the morsel of food you put into your wife's mouth." [Bukhari #2591 & Muslim #1628]

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An important point to note is that in many civilizations, man-made laws of inheritance are at the whim of a powerful individual; to give or deprive, as one will, however unjustly. Moreover, in these societies often there is no law that obligates a man with financial responsibilities and relieves the women from them. On the other hand, according to Islam, a male is required to take care of the entire financial needs of the female dependents of the family until they are married. From the time a female marries, her financial responsibilities are her husband's obligation. After the death of the husband, the son or other male relative is obliged to care for the widow. Therefore, demanding a "fair," "just" or "equal" share of inheritance for both male and female Muslims, who do not have equal financial obligations and responsibilities, is an unfair and unjust demand. It is only fair and just to give preference to a male heir, in light of his financial responsibilities, over the female heir from the inheritance of the father, mother or others. Considering all this, the fact that a female is still entitled by the Islamic law to a half share of the portion of inheritance received by the male, and sometimes an equal share, is indeed fair, just, and generous. Gustave Le Bon says in his book Arab Civilization: "The principles of inheritance which have been determined in the Qur'an have a great deal of justice and fairness. The person who reads the Qur'an can perceive these concepts of justice and fairness in terms of inheritance through the verses I quoted. I should also point out the great level of efficiency in terms of general laws and rules derived from these verses. I have compared British, French and Islamic Laws of inheritance and found that Islam grants the wives the right of inheritance, which our laws are lacking while Westerners consider them to be illtreated by the Muslim men." Also, in accordance with Islam, the men of the family shoulder all expenses resulting from payment of "blood-money", and this is another subject of concern that we will discuss now.

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Conclusion:
As can be seen, Islam did not intend to pass laws for the benefit of man and to the detriment of woman, or vice versa. Islam is not an advocate of womans rights, or that of mens. More than anything, when passing laws Islam, has taken into consideration the eternal felicity of men, women, their children, and society as a whole. In any case, in line with the monetary responsibilities that it has relegated for men, Islam has in many instances divided wealth between men and womensuch an instance being inheritance. It is not possible for us to claim that there is discrimination in this regards. Also, the whole corpus of the laws of Islam regarding men and women necessitate that the laws of inheritance be a certain way. This matter does not allow us to object to the civil laws of Islam. In the end, it is possible for us to say that if it is true that the expenses of the woman are upon the shoulders of the man, then what use does woman have in hoarding a large amount of wealth? We can answer by saying that the dowry and inheritance of the woman is like a savings that is for her future, in case she separates from her spouse or her spouse dies. It is so she can lead a comfortable and respected life in case such events happen. But the reason that the expenses of the woman is upon the man is so that she can, without any sort of mental anxiety, raise good and pious children. In this way the family, which is the cornerstone of society, will be filled with warmth and love.

Prepared By: Muhammad Faisal ul Islam

Cell # 03336587420

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