We are four sisters and three brothers. Rather than having all brothers and sisters sit together, one brother along with two other sisters distributed the gold jewelry and other assets that were inherited from the parents. They kept the best jewelry and assets and gave items of less quality to the other brothers and sisters. Is this correct according to Islam? Besides, one sister borrowed money from that particular brother and later said, “I will not return this money. You can subtract this amount from the inheritance and give me the remaining share.” Was her method right?

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

Every heir has his own share from the inheritance that is common (not specifically singled out) in the entire parts of the inheritance.

Shaykh Sulaymaan Al-Jamal said in his commentary on Al-Manhaj,

“The estate of the deceased, including cash, property, and debts, is common among all the heirs, and none of them is entitled to appropriate something for themselves without a considerable (and just) division, even if some of them receives something from the debts, he is not entitled to take it for himself, even if the debtor had intended to give him this debt as his (the heir’s) share in inheritance.”

Therefore, it is not permissible for some heirs to appropriate some parts of the inheritance without the consent of the remaining heirs, and it is not permissible to compel some heirs to accept some parts of the inheritance and renounce their share in the remaining parts of the inheritance, because this is injustice, and this constitutes taking things unlawfully, which is categorically forbidden in Islam.

Allah, after determining the shares of the heirs, says (what means): {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. 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.} [Quran 4:13-14] As-Sa’di said in his Tafseer (exegesis), “It means that the details that Allah mentioned in the inheritance are the limits of Allah that one must abide by and not transgress or fail to comply with.”

As regards the other part of the question, if it is related to the two sisters who were not given their right in full, then it is obligatory – as it is categorically known – to give back the debt to its owner, but if the debtor has a right on the creditor, who refuses to give him back his right, and the debtor cannot take it from him, then, in this case, some scholars permitted him to refrain from giving back the debt if it is the same amount that is owed to the creditor; this is known to the scholars by the issue of Ath-Thafar.

Imam Ash-Shaafi’i said in Al-Umm:

“There is evidence in the Sunnah and the Ijmaa’ (consensus) of many scholars that a man can take his own right secretly from the person who owes him this right, and this proves that this is not a betrayal. Betrayal is taking something unlawfully, so if one betrays me by taking one Dirham from me, he has considered betraying me as lawful, but it is not lawful for me to take 10 Dirhams from him in return for his betrayal of me; I am only entitled to take one single Dirham from him, and by doing so, I am neither betraying him nor being unjust.”

Finally, it should be mentioned that the issues of inheritance and similar issues of conflict and disputes should be resolved through an Islamic court or arbitration, and a fatwa is not enough in this regard.

Allah knows best.