Before calculating, you must be able to answer: is this person entitled to be on the list of heirs at all? This chapter summarizes the four screening gates from the opening of Tashil al-Faraidh: pillars, conditions, causes, and impediments (mawani’).
The pillars of inheritance (3)
There is no inheritance without these three elements:
- Muwarrits — the person who leaves the inheritance (the deceased).
- Warits — the person who inherits.
- Mauruth / tirkah — the property being inherited.
The conditions of inheritance (3)
- Certainty of the muwarrits’s death — either actually deceased, or ruled deceased by a judge (the case of mafqud, a missing person — see chapter 09).
- Certainty that the warits is alive at the time the muwarrits dies — even for a moment. From this condition arise the rules for an unborn child and the rule for people who die together in a single disaster (they do not inherit from one another).
- Knowing the cause and direction of the inheritance relationship — the relational path (child? maternal half-sibling? paternal uncle?) must be clear, because the share differs by path.
The causes of inheritance (3)
Only three relationships give rise to a right to inherit:
| Cause | Scope | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Marriage (nikah) | Husband ↔ wife with a valid contract | They still inherit from each other even if the marriage has not been consummated; this includes a wife in her raj’i (revocable) divorce waiting period |
| Blood relation (nasab) | Blood ties: ushul (father, grandfather, mother, grandmother), furu’ (children, grandchildren), hawashi (siblings, uncles, and their children) | The largest path; almost all the chapters on furudh and ‘ashabah concern nasab |
| Wala’ | The relationship of manumission: the one who frees a slave inherits from their former slave (not the reverse) | Practically no longer encountered today, but still mentioned because it is present in the text |
Outside these three, there is no inheritance: adopted children, adoptive siblings, and foster children do not inherit from one another (their path is a bequest, capped at 1/3 — see the pipeline in chapter 01).
Impediments to inheritance — mawani’ (3)
A person whose cause is present can still be totally blocked by one of three impediments:
flowchart LR
classDef bahaya fill:#7f1d1d,stroke:#ef4444,color:#fee2e2
classDef furud fill:#134e4a,stroke:#14b8a6,color:#ccfbf1
classDef proses fill:#713f12,stroke:#ca8a04,color:#fef9c3
A["Prospective heir<br/>(cause: marriage/blood/wala')"]:::furud --> Q1{"Killed the<br/>muwarrits?"}:::bahaya
Q1 -- yes --> X1["BLOCKED<br/>(al-qatl)"]:::bahaya
Q1 -- no --> Q2{"Different religion<br/>from the deceased?"}:::bahaya
Q2 -- yes --> X2["BLOCKED<br/>(ikhtilaf ad-din)"]:::bahaya
Q2 -- no --> Q3{"Enslaved?"}:::bahaya
Q3 -- yes --> X3["BLOCKED<br/>(ar-riqq)"]:::bahaya
Q3 -- no --> OK["Enters the list of heirs<br/>→ proceed to check hajb (chapter 05)"]:::proses
- Killing (al-qatl). A killer does not inherit from the person they killed — “there is no share of inheritance for a killer” (Abu Dawud & others). The wisdom is clear: to close the door on hastening inheritance through crime.
- Difference of religion (ikhtilaf ad-din). “A Muslim does not inherit from a disbeliever, and a disbeliever does not inherit from a Muslim” (Bukhari no. 6764, Muslim no. 1614). A non-Muslim relative may still be given something through a bequest or a gift during the deceased’s lifetime, but not through inheritance.
- Slavery (ar-riqq). A slave neither inherits nor is inherited from, because the slave and their property belong to their master. Mentioned for the completeness of the primary text.
Distinguishing: blocked-out (mahjub) vs. rejected (mamnu’)
Two terms that are often confused, and important for the coming chapter on hajb:
- Mamnu’/rejected due to an impediment (this chapter): this person is treated as not existing at all — they block no one. Example: a child who killed their father is treated as nonexistent, so that grandchild’s own child can still inherit from the grandfather.
- Mahjub/blocked out by another heir (chapter 05): this person is on the list but their share is voided/reduced because someone closer exists — and they can still block others. Example: two siblings still reduce the mother’s share from 1/3 to 1/6 even though the siblings themselves are blocked out by the father.
This principle (from the hajb chapter of Tashil al-Faraidh) is often what separates a correct answer from an incorrect one on mixed problems.
The list of possible heirs
From the male side (in brief): son, son’s son (and further down), father, paternal grandfather (and further up), full brother, paternal half-brother, maternal half-brother, full brother’s son, paternal half-brother’s son, full paternal uncle, paternal half-uncle, full paternal uncle’s son, paternal half-uncle’s son, husband, male who freed the deceased as a slave.
From the female side: daughter, son’s daughter, mother, maternal grandmother, paternal grandmother, full sister, paternal half-sister, maternal half-sister, wife, female who freed the deceased as a slave.
Notice who is not on the list: a daughter’s child, the mother’s father (maternal grandfather), a sister’s son, a maternal uncle (mother’s brother), aunts from either side — they are not blood-relation heirs, but rather dhawil arham, who receive only under special conditions (chapter 09).
Sources: Tashil al-Faraidh (opening chapter: al-huquq al-muta’alliqah bit-tirkah, arkan, shuruth, asbab, mawani’; Shamela 11095); Ash-Sharh al-Mumti’, Faraidh chapter. Hadith detail in 15-references.