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Fatwa CenterDivision of inheritance among a wife, a mother, 3 sons, and 2 daughters
Question
Assalaamu alaykum. Please calculate the inheritance according to the following information: -Does the deceased have male relatives who are entitled to inherit: (A son) Number 3 (A full brother) Number 1 -Does the deceased have female relatives who are entitled to inherit: (A mother [of the deceased]) (A daughter) Number 2 (A wife) Number 1 -Information about the deceased’s debts: (Debts to people) -Additional information: mother of the deceased died after him, and now the inheritance is being distributed; should her share be included?
Answer
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.
It is an obligation, before dividing the inheritance, that the financial dues that are upon the deceased should be paid back, such as debts, and this should be done after the burial costs are deducted. In addition to this, if he had made any will, it should first be given out, within a third of the inheritance, then what is left after that should be divided among the heirs.
If the heirs are only those mentioned in the question and the deceased did not leave any other heir, then the inheritance should be divided as follows: The mother gets one-sixth as her legal share due to the existence of direct descendants (children); Allaah says (what means): {And for one’s parents, to each one of them is a sixth of his estate if he left children.} [Quran 4:11]
His wife gets one-eighth as her legal share due to the existence of the children; Allaah says (what means): {But if you leave a child, then for them [i.e. the wives] is an eighth of what you leave, after any bequest you [may have] made or debt.} [Quran 4:12]
The remainder after the legal share of the mother and the wife should be divided among the sons and daughters 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] The full brother does not get anything from the inheritance as he is prevented by the existence of the children.
Therefore, the origin of the inheritance is 24 shares. The number of shares may be increased to 192 to satisfy all the sharers without a fraction. Hence, the inheritance should be divided into 192 shares, the mother gets one-sixth, which is 32 shares; the wife gets one-eighth, which is 24 shares. The remainder will be 136 shares, which is the share of the sons and the daughters. Each son gets 34 shares, and each daughter gets 17 shares.
As regards the share of the mother, who died before the division of the inheritance, then it shall be added to her property and will be divided among her heirs.
Allaah knows best.
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