A man died leaving house . One of his sister is alive, he has six daughters and two sons . Out of two sons one died. 1)How the property will be distributed among heirs. 2)The son who died his successors will get a share from the property .Kindly reply these two questions. Thanks - Allah will reward you for this. Mohammed Aneesuddin Jeddah - Saudi Arabia

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

If this dead father had no relatives other than those whom you mentioned in the question, who are: his daughters, his son, and his sister, and the children of his dead son, then his heirs are only his direct children (the six daughters and the son) who were alive when their father died.

As regards the sister and the children of the dead son, then they do not inherit anything from this father as they are prevented from the inheritance because of the existence of the son.

Therefore, all the property that the father left behind (including that house) should be divided between his children by Ta‘seeb (by virtue of having a paternal relation with the deceased and not having an allotted share, so they get what is left after the allotted shares have been distributed), the male twice the share of the female, as Allaah Says (what means): {Allaah instructs you concerning your children [i.e. their portions of inheritance]: for the male, what is equal to the share of two females.}[Quran 4:11]

This is of course if the son had died before his father, but if he died after him, then he inherits from him like his living siblings, and his share will be for his heirs [the heirs of the dead son]. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 90126.

It should be noted that the matter of inheritance is very complex an issue, so a mere Fatwa which is an answer issued according to the question is not enough. Rather, the matter should be taken to an Islamic court to look into the case, or it should be presented orally (in person) to the scholars in case there are no Islamic courts. It might be that there is an heir who would not be known except after investigation, and there might also be a will, debts, or other dues that are not known to the heirs. It is known that these rights come in priority over the right of the heirs. Therefore, the inheritance should not be divided without resorting to an Islamic court, if any, in order to fulfil the interests of the dead and the live people.  

Allaah Knows best.