The Quran

Preface

۞ وَلَكُم نِصفُ ما تَرَكَ أَزواجُكُم إِن لَم يَكُن لَهُنَّ وَلَدٌ ۚ فَإِن كانَ لَهُنَّ وَلَدٌ فَلَكُمُ الرُّبُعُ مِمّا تَرَكنَ ۚ مِن بَعدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يوصينَ بِها أَو دَينٍ ۚ وَلَهُنَّ الرُّبُعُ مِمّا تَرَكتُم إِن لَم يَكُن لَكُم وَلَدٌ ۚ فَإِن كانَ لَكُم وَلَدٌ فَلَهُنَّ الثُّمُنُ مِمّا تَرَكتُم ۚ مِن بَعدِ وَصِيَّةٍ توصونَ بِها أَو دَينٍ ۗ وَإِن كانَ رَجُلٌ يورَثُ كَلالَةً أَوِ امرَأَةٌ وَلَهُ أَخٌ أَو أُختٌ فَلِكُلِّ واحِدٍ مِنهُمَا السُّدُسُ ۚ فَإِن كانوا أَكثَرَ مِن ذٰلِكَ فَهُم شُرَكاءُ فِي الثُّلُثِ ۚ مِن بَعدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يوصىٰ بِها أَو دَينٍ غَيرَ مُضارٍّ ۚ وَصِيَّةً مِنَ اللَّهِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ عَليمٌ حَليمٌ

Yusuf Ali

In what your wives leave, your share is a half, if they leave no child; but if they leave a child, ye get a fourth; after payment of legacies and debts. In what ye leave, their share is a fourth,¹ if ye leave no child; but if ye leave a child, they get an eighth; after payment of legacies and debts. If the man or woman whose inheritance is in question, has left neither ascendants nor descendants,² but has left a brother³ or a sister, each one of the two gets a sixth; but if more than two, they share in a third; after payment of legacies and debts; so that no loss⁴ is caused (to any one). Thus is it ordained by God. and God is All-knowing, Most Forbearing.

The husband takes a half of his deceased wife’s property if she leaves no child, the rest going to residuaries; if she leaves a child, the husband gets only a fourth. Following the rule that the female share is generally half the male share, the widow gets a fourth of her deceased husband’s property, if he leaves no children, and an eighth if he leaves children. If there are more windows than one, their collective share is a fourth or an eighth as the case may be: inter se they divide equally.
The word in Arabic is kalalah, which is so construed usually. But it was nowhere defined authoritatively in the lifetime of the Messenger. This was one of the three terms about which Umar wished that the Messenger had defined than in his lifetime, the other two being khilafah, and riba (usury). On the accepted definition, we are concerned with the inheritance of a person who has left no descendant or ascendant (however distant), but only collaterals, with or without a widow or widower. If there is a widow or widower surviving, she or he takes the share as already defined, before the collaterals come in.
A “brother or sister” is here interpreted to mean a uterine brother or sister, i.e., a brother or sister by the same mother but not by the same father, as the case of full brothers and sisters or brothers and sisters by the same father but different mothers is understood to be dealt with later, in the last verse of this Sūra. The uterine brother or sister, if only one survives, takes a sixth, if more than one survives, they take a third collectively, and divide among themselves; this on the supposition that there are no descendants or ascendants, however remote. There may, however, be a widow or widower surviving: she or he takes her or his share, as already specified.
The shares of collaterals generally are calculated on a complicated system which cannot be described in a brief note. For these, and the rules about Residuaries (? Asaba) reference should be made to special legal treatises.
Debts (in which funeral expenses take first rank) and legacies are the first charge on the estate of a deceased person, before distribution takes place. But equity and fair dealing should be observed in all matters, so that no one’s interests are prejudiced. Thus funeral expenses should be reasonable; debts must be genuine and not reckless debts; and the shares must be calculated with fairness.