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Fatwa CenterDivision of inheritance among deceased's father, mother, son, and daughter
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 1 (A son of the son's son) Number 1 (A father) (A grandfather [father's side]) (A full brother) Number 1 - Does the deceased have female relatives who are entitled to inherit: (A mother [of the deceased]) (A daughter) Number 1 (A full sister) Number 2
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, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
If the deceased did not leave behind other heirs except those mentioned in the question, then the estate is divided among his immediate parents (father and mother) and his immediate children (son and daughter) only. Each of the deceased's parents (father and mother) is entitled to one sixth of the estate as a fixed share because the deceased had children; Allaah, The Exalted, 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]
The remainder of the estate is divided among the deceased's son and daughter by taʻseeb (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 gets 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 grandson is not entitled to any share in the estate because he is wholly excluded by the deceased's immediate son. Similarly, the deceased's paternal grandfather, full brother, and full sister are not entitled to any shares in the estate because they are totally excluded by the deceased's immediate father. Ibn ʻAasim underlined in his poem 'Tuhfat-ul-Hukkaam' that an heir cannot inherit along with his or her own descendant (i.e. the nearer in degree excludes the farther) except for the maternal siblings (i.e. they are not excluded by the mother).
Hence, the estate should be divided into eighteen shares; the deceased's father gets one-sixth (three shares), the mother gets one-sixth (three shares), and the remaining twelve shares should be divided among the son and daughter; the son gets eight shares, and the daughter gets four shares.
Allaah knows best.
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