Distribution of One's Property

29-7-2002 | IslamWeb

Question:

A Muslim has only a daughter, wife and mother. After his death or before how he distributes his property, or even in his life?

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Answer:

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.

There is no harm in giving money to those who are mentioned in the question as a gift while you are in good health. But it is not permissible to distribute your money as inheritance since you are still alive; and the rulings of inheritance are not to be implemented during the life of the person.

As for distributing the inheritance after the death of a person among those who are mentioned in the question, it is as follows:

1) The daughter will take half of the inheritance as mentioned in the verse in which Allah Says (what means): {…if (there is) only one daughter, her share is half…} [Quran 4: 11]

2) The wife will take one-eighth of the inheritance for the Saying of Allah (which means): {… but if you leave a child, they (wives) get an eighth of that which you leave…} [Quran 4: 12]

3) The mother will take one-sixth of the inheritance for the Saying of Allah (which 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 remaining inheritance is for 'Asabah (the blood relatives from the father's side) such as for the brother, paternal uncle, or paternal cousin of the dead person. If there is no 'Asabah, then the other blood relatives will take it, such as maternal uncle, maternal aunt, paternal aunt and a female cousin, etc. If there are no such relatives, then it will be distributed between the daughter and the mother.

Allah knows best.