A Critique of the Theory of Disinheritance of a Muslim Heir from Inheriting a non-Muslim Heir

Document Type : Original Article

Author

• Ghodratullah Niazi

Assistant Professor, Theology Department, Bu-Ali Sina University, Hamedan, Iran

10.22067/jfiqh.2022.78065.1419

Abstract

One of the most important financial rules is the inheritance of people from one another if the condition exists, which has always been prevalent across the nations and followers of holy religions. In this regard, Islamic Sharīʿa has provided precise legislations that determine the ranks and levels of heirs and their shares. According to most inheritance āyahs, all eligible individuals, regardless of their religious relations will inherit from one another. These general rules, supported unanimously by Farīqayn juriconsults are established with conclusive evidence; including reports indicating that non-believers will not inherit from Muslims. However, Islamic sects disagree whether Muslims inherit from non-believers or not. The majority of common juriconsults (Fuqahā-yi ʿĀmmih) believe that Muslims don’t inherit from non-believers. On the other hand, Imāmīya juriconsults and a few of the common juriconsults assert that Muslims do inherit from non-believers. The key point is that Imāmīya juriconsults unanimously believe that in case of the existences of a Muslim heir, the non-believing heir will be deprived of inheriting from a non-believer, even if the Muslim belongs to a more distant rank and the non-believer is closer in rank. The present research investigates the issue of the Muslim’s disinheritance from a non-believing heir, using the descriptive-analytical method and document analysis. Contrary to popular belief, the study concludes that arguments in favor of disinheritance are incomplete and the non-believing heir will inherit from the non-believer according to the general rules of inheritance.

Keywords

• inheritance
• disinheritance
• ḥarbī non-believer
• dhimmī non-beliver

Main Subjects

• Civil jurisprudence

---

References

Abū Dāwud, Sulaymān ibn Ashʻath. Sunan. researched by Saʿīd Muḥammad Laḥḥām. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr. Chāp-i  Awwal, 1990/1410.

Aḥsāʾī, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī(ibn Abī Jumhūr). ʿAwālī al-Laʾālī al-ʿAzīzīyah fī Aḥādīth al-Dīnīyah. researched by Mujtabā al-ʿIrāqī. Qum: s.n. 1983/1403.

Ākhūnd Khurāsānī, Muḥammad Kāẓim ibn Ḥusayn. Kifāya al-Uṣūl. Tehran: Kitābfurūshī Islāmīyyah. Chāp-i Awwal, s.d.

ʻĀmilī, Jaʻfar Murtaḍā. al- Ṣaḥīḥ min Sīrah al-Nabī al-Aʿẓam. Intishārāt-i Jāmiʿah Mudarrisīn. Chāp-i  Awwal, 1982/1402.

Arākī, Muḥammad ʿAlī. Risālatān fī al-Irth wa Nafaqah al-Zawjah. Qum: Ismāʻīlīyān, 1993/1413.

Ardabīlī, Muḥammad  ibn ʿAlī. Jāmiʿ al-Ruwāt wa Īḍāḥ al-Ishtibāhāt. Qum: Maktaba Āyat Allāh al-Marʻashī. Chāp-i Awwal, 1983/1403.

Burūjirdī, Ḥusayn. Naḥāya  al-Uṣūl. Muqarr Ḥusayn ʿAlī Muntaẓirī. Qum: Irān. Chāp-i Awwal,1956/1375.

Fāḍil Hindī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. Kashf  al-Lithām ʿan Qawāʾid al-Aḥkām. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. 2002/1423.

Ḥurr ʻĀmilī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. Wasāʾil al-Shīʻa ilā  Taḥṣīl Masāʾil al-Sharīʻa.

researched by Muḥammad Rāzī. Tehran: Maktaba al-Islāmīyya. Chāp-i Sivum, 1977/1397.

Ḥydarī, Sayyid ʿAlī Naqī. Uṣūl al-Istinbāṭ. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. Chāp-i Duwwum, 1995/1415. 

Ibn  Qudāmah, ʻAbd Allāh  ibn Aḥmad. al-Mughnī. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya, Chāp-i  Awwal, s.d.

Ibn Bābawayh, Muḥammad ibn ʻAlī. Man Lā Yaḥḍuruh al-Faqīh. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. Chāp-i  Awwal. 1993/1413.

Ibn Ḥanbal, Aḥmad. al-Musnad. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, Chāp-i  Awwal, s.d.

Ibn Mājah, Muḥammad ibn Yazīd. al-Sunan. researched by Muḥammad Fuʾād ʻAbd al-Bāqī. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr. s.d.

Ibn Nadīm, Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq. al-Fihrist. Translated by Riżā Tajaddud, s.l. Kitābkhānah-yi Ibn Sīnā. Chāp-i  Awwal, 1965/1343.

Ibn Rushd, Muḥammad. Bidāyah al-Mujtahid wa Nihāyat al-Muqtaṣid. Beirut: Dār al-ʻIlm, Chāp-i  Awwal, 1890/1308.

Ibn Shirbīnī, Muḥammad. Mughnī al-Muḥtāj. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-ʻArabīya, Chāp-i  Awwal, 1958/1377.

Khūʾī, Abū al-Qāsim. Mausūʿat al-Imām al-Khūʾī. s.l: Mūʾassisa Iḥyāʾ Āsār al-Imām al-Khūʾī. Chāp-i Sivum, 2003/1424.

Khūʾī, Abū al-Qāsim. Miṣbāḥ al-Uṣūl. Muqarr Sayyid Muḥammad Surūr Bihsūdī. Najaf: s.n. Chāp-i Awwal,  2008/1386.

Khūʾī, Abū al-Qāsim. Muḥāḍarāt fī al-Mawārīth. Muqarr Muḥammad ʿAlī  Kharsān. s.l. Mūʾassisa al-Sibṭayn al-ʿĀlamīya. Chāp-i Awwal, 2003/1424.

Khūʾī, Abū al-Qāsim. Muʿjam al-Rijāl al-Ḥadīth wa Tafṣīl Ṭabaqāt al-Ruwāt.  Beirut: Madīnah al-ʻIlm. Chāp-i Sivum, 1983/1403.

Kulīnī, Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb. al-Kāfī. ed. ʻAlī Akbar Ghafārī. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya. Chāp-i  Awwal, 1960/1379.

Mālik ibn Anas. al-Muwaṭṭaʾ. researched by Fuʾād ʻAbd al-Bāqī. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾal-Tūrāth al-ʻArabī. Chāp-i Awwal, 1986/1406.

Mufīd, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad. Jawābāt Ahl al-Mawṣil fī al-ʿAdad wa al-Ruʾyah. researched by Shaykh Mahdī  Najaf. s.l. al-Muʾtamar al-ʿĀlamīya li- Shaykh al-Mufīd. 1993/1413.

Muḥaqqiq  Sabziwārī, Muḥammad Bāqir ibn Muḥammad Muʾmin. Kifāyah al-Fiqh. researched by Murtaḍā  Wāʿiẓī. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. Chāp-i Awwal, 2002/1423.

Nāʾīnī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn. Fawāʾid al-Uṣūl. Muqarr Muḥammad ʿAlī Kāẓimī. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. Chāp-i Awwal, 1984/1404.

Najāshī, Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī. Rijāl Najāshī. Qum: Dāvarī. Chāp-i Avval, s.d.

Narāqī, Aḥmad. Mustanad al-Shīʻa  fī al-Aḥkām al-Sharīʻa. Qum: Āl al-Bayt. Chāp-i Awwal, 1995/1415.

Nūrī, Ḥusayn. Mustadrak al-Wasāʾil. Tehran: Ismāʻīlīyān. s.d.

Qahpāʾī, ʿInāyat Allah. Majmaʿ al-Rijāl. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. 1999/1420.

Qurān-i Karīm

Rūḥānī, Sayyid Ṣādiq. Fiqh al-Ṣādiq. Qum: Āyīn Dānish. Chāp-i Avval, 2014/1435.

Ṣāḥib Jawāhir. Muḥammad Ḥasan ibn Bāqir. Jawāhir al-Kalām fī Sharḥ Sharāyʿ al-Islām.  researched by Muḥammad Qūchānī. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya. Chāp-i Sivum, 1990/1368.

Shāfiʿī, Muḥammad ibn Idrīs. al-Umm. Beirut: Dar al-Fikr. Chāp-i Duwwum, 1980/1400.

Shahīd Awwal, Muḥammad ibn Makkī. al-Durūs al-Sharʿīyah. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. Chāp-i Awwal, 1994/1414.

Shahīd Thānī, Zayn al-Dīn ibn ʿAlī. Masālik al-Afhām fī Sharḥ Sharāyʿ al-Islām. s.l. Mūʾassisa al-Maʿārif al-Islāmīyya. Chāp-i Awwal, 1996/1416.

Shams al-A’immah Sarakhsī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad. al-Mabsūṭ. researched by Jamʻ  min al-Fuḍalā ʾ. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa. 1986/1406.

Shushtarī,MuḥammadTaqī. Qāmūs al-Rijāl. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. Chāp-i Awwal,  1999/1420.

Subḥānī, Jaʻfar. al-Wasīṭ fī Uṣūl al-Fiqh. Qum: Mūʾassisah-yi Imām Ṣādiq. Chāp-i Avval, 1961/1380.

Subḥānī, Jaʻfar. Furūgh-i Abadīyat. Qum: Intishārāt-i Daftar-i Tablīghāt-i Islāmī. 1988/1366.

Subḥānī, Jaʻfar. Kulīyāt fī ʻIlm al-Rijāl. Qum: Markaz-i Mudīrīyat-i Ḥawzah-yi ʻIlmīyah. Chāp-i Duvvum, 1976/1396.

Subḥānī, Jaʻfar. Niẓām al-Irth fī al-Sharīʻa al-Islāmīyya al-Gharrāʾ.  Muqarr Sayyid Riḍā  Payghambar pūr. Mūʾassisah-yi Imām Ṣādiq. Chāp-i Avval,  1995/1415. 

Ṭabāṭabāyī, ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad. Rīyāḍ Masāʾil fī Bayān al-Aḥkām bi al-Dalāʾil. Qum: Āl al-Bayt. Chāp-i Awwal, 1989/1409.

Tajlīl, Abū Ṭālib. Jāmiʿ al-Thiqāt. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. Chāp-i Duwwum, 1985/1363.

Tirmadhī, Muḥammad ibn ʻĪsā. al-Sunan. Beirut: Dar al-Fikr. Chāp-i Duwwum, 1983/1403.

Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. al-Istibṣār fī mā Ikhtalafa min al-Akhbār. ed. Sayyid Ḥasan  Kharsān. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya. 1970/1390.

Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. Tahdhīb  al-Aḥkām. ed. ʻAlī Akbar Ghafārī. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya. Chāp-i Awwal, 1970/1390.