Famous cases and special situations

The two ‘Umariyya cases العمريتان

Two cases: the husband, the father and the mother; the wife, the father and the mother. If the mother took one third of the whole estate, she would receive more than the father in the first case.

‘Umar ruled that the mother receives one third of what is left after the spouse’s share: 1/6 with the husband, 1/4 with the wife; the father takes twice as much. The four schools followed him; Ibn ‘Abbas gave the mother one third of the whole estate.

If the grandfather stands in place of the father, the mother keeps one third of the whole estate.

Al-Mushtaraka المشتركة (الحمارية)

A woman leaves her husband (1/2), her mother (1/6), maternal half-brothers (1/3) and a full brother: the fixed shares take everything, and the full brother, heir to the remainder, gets nothing, although he is closer than the maternal half-brothers.

‘Umar first ruled this way; then, according to the report, the full brothers said to him: “suppose our father was a donkey (or a stone thrown into the sea): do we not have the same mother?” He then let them into the maternal half-siblings’ third, shared equally. The Malikis and Shafi‘is follow this second ruling; the Hanafis and Hanbalis keep to the first.

Al-Akdariyya الأكدرية

The husband, the mother, the grandfather and a full (or paternal half-) sister. According to Zayd ibn Thabit, the sister receives her half (‘awl from 6 to 9), then she and the grandfather pool their shares (1/6 and 1/2) and divide them 2 to 1: final base 27.

This is the only case in which the sister has a fixed share alongside the grandfather. According to the Hanafis, the grandfather excludes her.

Al-Minbariyya المنبرية

The wife (1/8), two daughters (2/3), the father (1/6) and the mother (1/6): 27 parts for a base of 24. According to tradition, ‘Ali was asked about it while on the pulpit and answered at once: “her eighth has become a ninth”.

Al-Mubahala المباهلة

The husband (1/2), the mother (1/3) and a full sister (1/2): 8 parts for a base of 6. Ibn ‘Abbas, who did not accept ‘awl, declared himself ready for a mubahala (mutual invocation) on this question.

Umm al-Furukh أم الفروخ

The husband, the mother, two full sisters and two maternal half-sisters: 10 parts for a base of 6, the largest ‘awl of that base.

Al-Malikiyya المالكية

The husband, the mother, the grandfather, a paternal half-brother and maternal half-siblings. Under Zayd’s method, the grandfather and the brother each receive 1/6. Imam Malik ruled that the grandfather takes the whole third: without him, the maternal half-siblings would have taken that third and the brother would have had nothing. With a full brother, the same case is called “shibh al-Malikiyya”.

The grandfather and the brothers الجد والإخوة

Grandfather with full or paternal brothers and sisters: Abu Bakr and Ibn ‘Abbas regarded the grandfather as a father, who excludes brothers; Zayd ibn Thabit, ‘Umar, ‘Ali and Ibn Mas‘ud made him share, each in his own way.

Zayd’s method (Malikis, Shafi‘is, Hanbalis): with no other fixed-share heir, the grandfather takes the better of sharing (he counts as a brother) and one third; with fixed-share heirs, the best of sharing the remainder, one third of the remainder and one sixth. If only one sixth or less remains, he takes it and the brothers get nothing.

Al-Mu‘adda and al-Kharqa’ المعادة

Facing the grandfather, full brothers count the paternal half-siblings to reduce his share, then take back what the half-siblings would have had. A single full sister takes back up to her half, and any surplus goes to the half-siblings: this is “Mukhtasarat Zayd” (base 54).

Al-Kharqa’ (the mother, the grandfather and the sister) owes its name to the number of opinions the Companions gave on it.

The unlucky brother and the blessed relative الأخ المشؤوم والقريب المبارك

The unlucky brother: with the husband and a full sister, a paternal half-sister receives one sixth; if she has a paternal half-brother, she inherits the remainder with him, and nothing remains: they get nothing.

The blessed relative: with two daughters, a son’s daughter gets nothing; a son’s son (even lower) makes her an heir to the remainder with him.

Ad-Dinariyya and Umm al-Aramil الدينارية

Ad-Dinariyya (or Rikabiyya): out of 600 dinars, the wife takes 75, the mother 100, the two daughters 400, and 25 remain for twelve brothers and one sister: the sister receives just one dinar, and yet the division is exact.

Umm al-Aramil: three wives, two grandmothers, four maternal half-sisters and eight full sisters, that is seventeen women who each receive one seventeenth.

The unborn child ميراث الحمل

An unborn child inherits if born alive (“when the newborn cries, the funeral prayer is said for him and he inherits”, Ibn Majah, no. 1508). One cannot wait indefinitely, nor know whether there will be one child or several, boys or girls.

The share most favourable to the child is therefore set aside: the Hanafis (view of Abu Yusuf) assume one boy or one girl, the Hanbalis two boys or two girls; the Shafi‘is set no limit; the Malikis wait for the birth. Meanwhile each heir receives the minimum of their shares.

The missing person ميراث المفقود

An heir reported missing: the division is calculated as if alive and as if dead; each heir receives the minimum, and the share at stake is set aside until the person returns or is declared dead. The waiting period differs between schools and laws.

Other situations مسائل أخرى

Relatives who die together (drowning, accident) without knowing who died first: they do not inherit from each other according to the Hanafis, Malikis and Shafi‘is; the Hanbalis let them inherit from each other’s own property.

Successive estates (munasakhat): an heir dies before the division; the first estate is divided, then his share among his own heirs. This calculator handles one estate at a time.

An intersex person (khuntha) whose sex is not established: the schools give different solutions; this case is not calculated here.