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Fatwa CenterInheritance of wife, mother and full sister
Question
Assalaamu ‘Alaykum; Please calculate the inheritance according to the following information -Does the deceased have male relatives who are entitled to inherit: (A full paternal uncle) Number 4 (A cousin from a full paternal uncle) Number 2 -Does the deceased have female relatives who are entitled to inherit : (A mother) (A wife) Number 1 (A full sister) Number 1
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 ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.
If the deceased did not have any heirs except those mentioned in the question, then the wife will get one-fourth of the inheritance due to the lack of the children of the deceased. In this regard, Allaah The Exalted says (what means): {And for the wives is one fourth of what you leave if you leave no child.}[Quran 4:12]
The full sister will get the half for Allaah The Almighty says (what means): {If a man dies, leaving no child but [only] a sister, she will have half of what he left.}[Quran 4:176]
The mother will get one-third for Allaah The Almighty says (what means): {But if he had no children and the parents [alone] inherit from him, then for his mother is one third.}[Quran 4:11]
Based on that, the estate should be divided into 13 shares. Originally, it is 12 shares but exceeded to 13 (because there is what we call in Arabic ‘Awl, which means that the shares of the inheritance (one fourth 3/12, one half 6/12 and one third 4/12 = 13/12) exceed the sum of the total inheritance and by applying the laws of 'Awl the inheritance will be divided into 13 shares (and not only 12 shares) 6 shares for the sister, 4 shares for the mother, and 3 shares for the wife.
Nothing will be given to the four paternal uncles because they inherit only by Ta'seeb (i.e. by virtue of having a parental relation with the deceased and they got what is left after the allotted shares have been distributed). Here, the allotted shares have consumed the whole estate and thus nothing remained for the paternal relatives. Also, the two cousins will inherit nothing at all because, in principle, they are prevented from the inheritance by the existence of the paternal uncles.
Finally, we wish to notify the questioner that the issue of inheritance is a very serious and dangerous matter. As such, it is not sufficient to rely solely on a Fatwa provided by a Mufti based on the question he is asked. Rather, you must raise this issue in the Islamic courts so that they might look into it and verify it. There might be an heir unknown until after a proper investigation. Also, there could be wills or debts or other obligations of which the heirs are unaware. It is known that those rights precede the rights of heirs in the inheritance, so it is not correct to divide the inheritance without first consulting the Islamic courts, if they exist, in order to confirm the rights of the living and the dead.
Allaah Knows best.
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