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Fatwa CenterMother wants to take her children's share in their father's inheritance
Question
Assalaamu alaykum. My question is the following: my sister purchased a house with my dad a few years ago. My dad passed away two years ago. The house has just been sold now. My sister has taken her half share of the money as it was purchased jointly with my dad. The other half belonged to my dad, who is no more. Should she distribute our dad's share accordingly to sharia law or give it to my mum? My mother says that she should be entitled to the whole share and that the children should only get it after her death. My mother says that she wants to purchase a house with it although she has one already which she does not want to sell. What should we do because my mum is crying and I feel very upset because I cannot see her crying? I feel that she is wrong because she has a house already and she can purchase a new one if she sells it, but she does not want to do that. I believe in my heart that although you should be kind to your parents, Allaah's rule is more important. I believe that the money should be divided according to sharia law. Please help us; what is right? My mother has also got most of the inheritance and calls us greedy of money if we explain to her that the inheritance should be divided according to the Allaah's rule, which she refuses. Please help.
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.
The share of your father in the house is the property of all the heirs after his death, and your mother is not permitted to prevent any of the heirs from taking his/her share in the inheritance if they wish to do so. If she prevents them from that, then she is disobedient to Allaah, and there is no obedience for her in this case, as the Prophet said, “There is no obedience to a creature in disobeying Allaah (the Creator).” [Ahmad - Shaykh Shuayb al-Arna'oot classified it as saheeh (sound)]
Therefore, you should clarify this matter to your mother, as well as the fact that she is not permitted to appropriate the shares of other heirs under any pretext, because this is a share that Allaah decreed for the heirs; Allaah says (what means): {For men is a share of what the parents and close relatives leave, and for women is a share of what the parents and close relatives leave, be it little or much - an obligatory share.} [Quran 4:7]
If you are gentle with your mother and show her these religious texts in a wise manner, we hope that she will abide by the Ruling of Allaah and accept it.
If she does not accept it, then there is no obedience to her as we have already mentioned, and she is only entitled to her legitimate share, which in this case is one-eighth due to the existence of the children (direct heirs).
Allaah knows best.
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