Ready Reckoner - Introduction

Ready Reckoner - Introduction

Educate the people: Our responsibility is to teach the people as per the Prophet’s(s.a.s) command. Teach it to the people and do your job. If anybody disobeys and plays false in property division he will bear the punishment.

Importance

It is the only one perfect system of property distribution in the world. No doubt it is from the Creator who knows the best.

In spite of this it is the one which is most neglected by the Muslims.

Property division after a person’s death involves the property and the wealth of the person died. Rules have been laid down in Quran and by Prophet’s sunnah.

It is very important to distribute the property as per sharia laws in Islam. Punishment for not adhering to rules in property division are grave and serious. At the end of the rules of inheritance verses in surah Al-nisaa Quran says “ these are the limits set by Allah. Whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger will be admitted to paradise….And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger, and transgresses His limits will be made to enter into Hell Fire, permanently and he shall have a disgraceful torment.”

Hadees

  1. Learn the law of inheritance and teach them to people. Because it is half of knowledge, and it is the first one to be erased from my ummat.
  2. Learn the Quran and teach it. Learn the laws of inheritance and teach them. I am a human who will die, and the knowledge is the one which will disappear. A day may come when 2 persons will argue regarding the inheritance shares and nobody will be there to solve their problem.
  3. Good knowledge are three in number. Muhkamaat verses, Sunnah, which is perfect, and the Laws of Inheritance.

Think how important it is to know the laws of inheritance and to practice them.

Punishment for not abiding the rules.

As mentioned earlier it is permanent Hell Fire. As per hadees quoted by AbuHurraira, Prophet(sas) said-A man might perform actions of righteous people for seventy years but when it is time to compile his will commits injustice and because of this he enters the Fire. Similarly a man might perform ill deeds for seventy years but leaves a fair will and thus enters paradise.

Property however small should be divided and given to heirs. The whole property belongs to Allah and it should be divided as per His rules. But humans have a strange feeling that it is earned by them, but actually it is given by Allah. Just imagine Allah takes away one’s life before he earns any property, or Allah makes him handicapped or makes huge losses to him through calamities then where is your wealth, money or property? We never think of the blessings from Allah. We never thank Him. We try to find some means to escape from giving the property to relatives. Be grateful to Him for the blessings and distribute the property as per His rules.

Property division is based on family ties.

In Islam property division is not based on who is poor or rich, but it is based on blood relations and family ties. Even a rich relative of a poor man as per Islam should get the property if he is eligible. This family system is completely lost these days.

Heirs

When a Muslim dies some of his relatives as shown below become heirs to his property. Before the property division three things are considered. First funeral expenses and secondly any debts are to be cleared and thirdly waseeyat or will is to be implemented. Waseeyat should not exceed 1/3 of the property. The remaining is divided among the heirs. If at the time of division of property other relatives, orphans or poor are present give to them out of it. Quran 4-8. Optional and if all heirs agree.

Heirs are classified as:

  1. Fixed heirs.
  2. Balance heirs.
  3. Distant Relatives.
  4. Other heirs in the absence of first three.

Terminology

  • Full brother / sister: brothers from same father same mother
  • Consanguineous brother / sister : (Paternal half brother/sister,) Same father different mother
  • Uterine brother / sister: Same mother different father.This can arise in 2 situations:
    1. Mother has married the father after the death of first husband.
    2. Father has died and mother has married again.
  • True grand father (TGF): grand father with no female in between. E.g. father’s father-ff, father’s father’s father – fff
  • True grand mother (TGM): grand mother with no untrue grand father in between. E.g. mother’s mother(MM), father’s mother(FM), father’s father’s mother(FFM), father’s mother’s mother (FMM)
  • All the relations mentioned below are relationship to the person died. Person died can be male or female.
    E.g. Father means father of the person died, son means son of the person died.
  • If a heir is not alive then he does not inherit.
    E.g. A has died leaving 2 sons and 2 daughters. But A had one more son who had died before A’s death. Here the dead son does not inherit.

Fixed Heirs

Fixed heirs are those whose share is fixed. They are 12 in number:

  1. Father (F)
  2. Mother (M)
  3. True grand father (TGF)
  4. Husband (H)
  5. Wife (W)
  6. True grand mother (TGM)
  7. Daughter (D)
  8. Son’s daughter (SD)
  9. Sister full (Sf)
  10. Sister consanguineous (Sc)
  11. Sister Uterine (Su)
  12. Brother Uterine (Bu)

Out of the fixed heirs F, M, H, W & D always inherit and the share value changes. Others inherit at certain occasions and at certain occasions they are excluded by other heirs.

Balance Heirs

Once fixed shares are given the balance goes to the person eligible for balance. They are in order:

  1. Son with daughter if present – S + D
  2. Son’s son with son’s daughter – SS + SD
  3. Son’s son’s son with son’s son’s daughter – SSS + SSD
  4. Father - F
  5. True Grand father - TGF
  6. Brother full with sister full – Bf + Sf
  7. Sister full Sf (only if daughter or son’s daughters are present sister full will take the balance)
  8. Brother consanguineous with sister consanguineous - Bc + Sc
  9. Sister consanguineous Sc (only if daughter or son’s daughters are present sister consanguineous will take the balance)
  10. Brother full’s son BfS
  11. Brother consanguineous’s son BcS
  12. Brother full’s son’s son BfSS
  13. Brother consanguineous son’s son BcSS
  14. Descendants down the line can go on how low so ever
  15. Paternal uncle full PUf
  16. Paternal uncle consanguineous PUc
  17. Paternal uncle full’s son PUfS,
  18. Paternal uncle consanguineous’s son PUcS.
  19. Descendants of Paternal Uncles' how low so ever.
  20. Radd: If nobody from above list then Fixed heirs act as balance heirs. Balance is given to fixed heirs in proportion to their fixed shares. Here Husband/ Wife are not included for Radd
  21. If none from above then other blood relatives not in the two lists above take the balance after allotting H/W share. These are called other blood relatives or Distant relatives.
  22. Next in order are H/W for Radd. They take the whole balance if none from the above list are alive.
  23. In the absence of above below 4 are considered for balance . In order of preference, they are:
    • One who freed the Slave
    • Successor by Contract
    • Acknowledged kinsmen
    • One who was given more than 1/3 as waseeyat.
  24. If nobody property goes to Baithul Maal or public treasury in an Islamic country. Among the balance heirs whoever alive first in the list will inherit the whole balance and those below in the list are excluded for balance share except with grand father and brothers where there are two opinions. However some of them may still get fixed shares as their names are in the fixed heirs list.