Salman Ahmed Shaikh

In the ancient world, women inherited nothing upon the death of the deceased relative. Women usually had no independent legal personality. The pre-Islamic Arabs were opposed to inheritance for women, who could not inherit as long as a male member of the family existed.

Islam had given women a share in inheritance. In the ancient world, women were not only deprived of that share, but were considered as a property to be inherited by men. In Islam, whether a woman is a wife or a mother, a sister or a daughter, she receives a certain share from the wealth of the deceased close relative.

This share is hers by divine injunctions, and no one can take it away or disinherit her. Even if the deceased wishes to deprive her of the due share by making a will to the other relations or in favour of any other cause, the Islamic law will not allow that to happen.

According to the Islamic law, a son receives twice as much as a daughter, a brother twice as much as a sister and a husband twice as much as a wife. But, this does not mean that the shares of men and women are unequal in all circumstances. In the case of father and mother, the share of both is the same in the wealth left by their deceased children.

Even if a deceased only leaves behind female heirs, they will be given their prescribed share. In one of the case, the only daughter the deceased leaves behind may receive as much as half of the inheritance and if there are more than two daughters, they together get two-third (2/3) of the remaining inheritance.

Muslim mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters had received inheritance rights roughly fourteen hundred years before Europe recognized that these rights should even exist in the first place. Under English common law, when a man and woman married, they became legally one person—the husband.

It was not until the late 1870s onwards in Europe that married women achieved the right to enter contracts and own property. France granted women the right to own bank accounts in 1881; five years later, the right was extended to married women, who were then allowed to open accounts without their husbands’ permission.

As per Islamic inheritance law, in some (not all) cases, some male heirs receive greater share in inheritance than females. In order to understand the rationale behind this rule, one must take into account the fact that the financial obligations of men in Islam far exceed those of women.

Inheritance distribution in Islam is based on the principle of reciprocity of financial benefits. Male heirs had either spent more financially on their families or are in the need of more finance to spend on their families. Husbands in Islamic family system at all times are solely responsible for meeting the financial needs of the family including wives and children.

As per Islam, Muslim women can own property and wealth. They are entitled to have ‘Mehr’ (wealth at the start of marriage), ‘Wirasat’ (share in inheritance upon the death of husband, children, father and in some cases brother[s]). Islam does not make it obligatory on women to earn for their family.

However, they can earn for the family and yet they are not obliged to spend their earnings on the family. They have a right to choose an occupation and earn. However, men are obliged to spend their earnings on the family and they are made primarily responsible for earning the livelihood for their family.

Hence, one could appreciate that Muslim men, in general, have greater financial burdens than Muslim women.

Male heir is burdened with all financial responsibilities; whereas, a female heir is burdened with no financial responsibilities.