Readers’ Forum

Reasons of inheritance

Inheritance is the firmly rooted right of a person to take property at another man’s death on the ground of blood relationship and marriage tie.
There are three classes of affiliation.
1. The first class includes two parents, children, spouses and children’s children.
11. The second class includes full brothers and full sisters, half-brothers and half-sisters, their children and descendants downwards.
111. The third class comprises paternal uncles, maternal aunts, their ascendants and descendants downwards.
Allah has fixed portions of males and females in order that the females are not deprived of their shares in the property of the deceased. He has warned of severe consequence also if His law is not executed in the event of the death of a person, male or female. But sadly, in most cases females are deprived of their rights to property. Whereas Islam gives females such right as none other thinks.
As for example, if a man or female leaves a daughter and a full-brother only, the daughter is the only heir and she receives the whole estate of the deceased. If a man leaves neither parents nor children, the deceased’s full-brothers and sisters will be the heirs provided a male gets twice of a female. The reason of a woman getting less is that she receives property from minimum four sources, but she is not bound to spend for family members. What the State shall do that it must ensure proper distribution of properties after death of an earning member.
Ameer Hamzah
Dhaka