Surah An-Nisa 4:11-14 - Quran Translation Commentary

11. Allah enjoins²² you in the matter of (inheritance) your children, the male shall have a portion equal to the portion of two females;²³ but if there are more than two females, they shall have two-thirds of that which he (the deceased) has left,²⁴ and if only one she shall have the half.²⁵ And for the parents of the deceased, each of them shall have the sixth of that which he has left if he has a child,²⁶ but if he has no child and the parents are the only heirs, the mother shall have the one third; ²⁷ if the deceased has brothers and sisters, the mother shall have the sixth.²⁸ The distribution (in all cases) should be after the payment of a bequest²⁹ he may have bequeathed or a debt. ³⁰ Your parents and your children, you do not know who are nearer to you in benefit.³¹ These are settled portions ordained by Allah and indeed Allah is All- Knowing , All wise. ³²

12. And you shall have half of that which your wives leave if they leave no child: but if they have a child you shall have the fourth of that which they leave, after paying a bequest they may have bequeathed or a debt. And they shall have one-fourth or that which you have left if you have ³³ no child. But if you have a child, then they shall have one-eighth of that which you have left after paying a bequest you may have bequeathed or a debt. And if the man or woman whose inheritance is to be distributed, is Kalala (ie has left neither father nor a child) but has left a brother or a sister, each one of the two shall have a sixth: but if more than that , they shall share in a one-third ³⁴ after paying a bequest that may have been bequeathed or a debt, provided that it does not cause harm .³⁵ This is a commandment from Allah, and Allah is All-Knowing, Most Forbearing.³⁶

13. These are the limits³⁷ fixed by Allah: those who obey Allah and His Messenger, He will cause them to enter gardens with rivers flowing beneath, wherein they will abide, and that will be the great achievement.

14. And whoever, who disobeys Allah and His messenger, and transgresses His limits. He will cast him in the fire, wherein he will abide and shall have a humiliating punishment³⁸.

Commentary

22. In these verses the distribution of inheritance has been detailed and which Allah has declared to be His command. It means that this is a very important and compulsory command.

There is another point also: that in Surah Baqarah,180,the absolute command that was given to the faithful to make a will in favour of their parents and their near relatives,this command has now restricted it therefore in favour of these whom. Allah has declared as heirs. There is no necessity for the believers to make any will. That is now the will can be made in favour of those relatives only who do not inherit according to Shariah.

23. Allah has fixed the share of a male twice as much as that of the female in the inheritance not because women are lower than men. If it were so then in no condition the share of women would have been fixed equal to that of men. When in a number of cases the share of women is fixed equal to that of men: e.g. when the deceased. has children, where the father gets one-sixth share. the mother also gets one-sixth share. Similarly the share of the uterine brother and sister of the deceased has been made equal.

The main reason for not keeping the shares of the sons and daughters equal is that Islam has placed the responsibility of earning the livelihood on men, who are responsible for maintaining the wife and also the children, while the woman has not been made responsible even to support herself. Moreover, man has been burdened with paying the mehr (dower) to his wife. In view of these responsibilities, justice demands that man’s share should be twice that of the woman.

The meaning of giving two shares to the son as against one share of the daughter, is that if the deceased has left behind one son and one daughter then after giving the shares to other heirs—if they are there – the remaining inheritance should be divided into three parts and one part should go to the daughter and two parts to the son; and if there are more sons and daughters then the inhertance will be distributed in this way: every son will get two shares and every daughter one share. However, if there are only sons, then all of them will get equal shares.

It may be noted that in the presence of one’s own begotten son, the grandson cannot be an heir as in the presence of the father the grandfather cannot be an heir.

24. If the deceased has left behind only daughters. and if they are more then two then they are to get two-third share. The same command is there in respect of only two daughters. that is: if the deceased has left behind only two daughters, they would get two-third share. This point is clear from the context, because it is said earlier that a son’s share is twice that of a daughter’s, it means that if there is one son and one daughter then the son would get two-third, and the daughter would get one-third, this share of the son is equal to the shares of two daughters. As this point was clear from the context, the command regarding the share of more than two daughters was explained clearly. Moreover in Verse No.176 the shares of two sisters have been stated to be two-third therefore the shares of the two daughters would convincingly be two-third.

That the share of the two daughters is equal to two-third is also confirmed by the hadith. Accordingly it is narrated in Tirmizi that the widow of Saad bin Rabi’ went to the Prophet and stated: “O Prophet of Allah ! These are the two daughters of Sa’ad; their father was martyred in the battle of Uhad and their uncle has usurped their entire property. Now who would marry them !” On this, the Verse about inheritance was revealed and the Prophet called for the uncle of the orphaned girls and told him to give them two-third share from the property and one-eight share to their mother and then whatever should remain might be taken by him. (Tafseer Ibn Katheer. Vol. I. P. 457).

This two-third share of the inheritance will be distributed equally among all the daughters and other heirs would claim the remaining onethird share.

25. That is: If the deceased has left behind only one daughter, and no son then she would get half the portion of inheritance and the remaining half portion would go to the remaining heirs. This point is also derived from this command that if there is only one son, then he would get twice the share of the daughter that is the whole inheritance. However, if there are also other heirs like father and mother, then he would get the whole share of what remains after distributing their share.

26. There may be one child or more children. and whether it is a son or a daughter, the parents of the deceased would each get one-sixth share.

Ordinarily, the right of the parents should have been more compared to the children but the reason for keeping the share of children more and that of the parents less is that generally the parents have reached such an age when they do not need much wealth as against the children who being younger in age have more need of the wealth. It shows how wise is this distribution.

27. That is: If there are no heirs except the parents then the mother would get one-third share and the father get the remaining share.

28. That is: If the deceased has brother and sister then the mother would get one-sixth instead of one-third and the remaining would be given to the father because in these circumstances the responsibilities of the father are increased.

It may be noted that in the event of the deceased’s father and mother or only father being alive, the deceased’s brother and sister do not get anything.

29. A Muslim has the right to make a will about his wealth and property to the extent of only one-third of the whole property and wealth, as is clear from the hadith. Besides, any will in favour of any heir is not proper and nor such a will would be considered operative, save if the heirs may permit it to be executed. The permission is given to make will to the extent of onethird of the property because those of the relatives who would not be getting any share in inheritance, like the orphaned grandson or orphaned grand-daughter. or widowed daughterin- law etc, may be provided in the will by the man concerned. Similarly such a will can be made in favour of other deserving people or for utilising the money for some good cause. (Note No, 233 of Surah Baqarah may also be kept in view).

30. First of all the debts will be paid, then the will would be executed and thereafter inheritance would be distributed. The mention of the will has been made before the payment of debts because people act carelessly about this matter. As the will is without any compensation and the payment of which is generally felt to be burdensome. As against this the debt is a liability which is an accepted fact and payment of which is absolutely necessary.

31. That is: In the matter of heritage man cannot take a correct decision on account of his limited knowledge neither can he determine the heirs correctly nor their shares. Accordingly whenever man has tried to make rules for the distribution of inheritance without paying heed to the divine guidance he has become a prey to personal desires and has made unjust decisions. If in the old pre-Islamic days women were deprived of inheritance then in the present non-Islamic times women have been considered equal to men, while the responsibilities of the two are not equal.

In the Civil Code of Napoleon, the spouses have been deprived of the inheritance in the presence of the blood relatives. The Hindu code Bill does not accept the right of the father to inherit in the presence of the children of the deceased however it allows a share to the mother. According to the Indian Succession Act. 1925, if the deceased has children then his parents have no share in the inheritance. This is the proof of the fact that man has been a prey to his personal desires, contemporary theories and tendencies and all the rules that have been made in this connection have not been made on any solid foundation : but the Islamic laws are based on Divine Knowledge and therefore they are perfectly balanced .

32. Allah is All-Knowing and All-Wise, therefore His distribution cannot be wrong. Our own proclivities and theories can be wrong and against the demands of justice and fairplay. Only Allah knows what is good for us and most suitable, therefore, we must believe that His Shariah is right and correct, and we should accept only the Divine Shariah and follow it scrupulously.

33. In the case of the deceased not having a child, the share of his widow would be one- fourth while in the case of having a child, one-eight. If there are more than one wives then they will all be sharing equally in this one-fourth or one-eight share.

34. There is a consensus of opinion that this command is concerning the uterine brothers and sisters i-e having a common mother. As for the full brothers and sisters and consanguine brothers and sisters i.e. having a common father, instructions about their share are given at the end of the surah.

In case of uterine brothers and sisters the command is this: If there is one brother or one sister . he/she will get one-sixth and if there are two or more brothers and sisters then they will all have equal shares in one-third. It may be noted that the brothers and sisters of the deceased, whether full or half, get a share in the inheritance only if the deceased has no child and if the father of the deceased is not alive.

35. That is: No undue advantage be taken of the provision about legacies and debts in the law of inheritance e.g. some one may make an improper will in order to deprive the rightful heirs to get their lawful shares or he may admit of a debt as payable by him although he has not actually taken the debt. This kind of acts which cause harm to the rightful heirs is declared to be a major sin in the hadith.

36. Here Allah has referred to His two attributes: knowledge and forbearance,in order to indicate that whoever disobeys Allah’s law of inheritance should understand that Allah is aware of his acts and that He is not punishing him instantly because of His attribute of forbearance. But it does not mean that such a person will escape Allah’s punishment.

37. By limits are meant laws, rules and regulations. The commands of inheritance mentioned in Quran are the Divine Law, obeying which is compulsory for all His slaves.

38. After detailing the law of inheritance,a warning is given that those who would disobey this law would meet with severe punishment. From this the seriousness of the crime of those who want to change the Islamic law of inheritance or who want to introduce a new Succession Code for Muslims would be understood: This can be the work of such people as have nothing to do with obeying the commands of Allah and His messenger otherwise no Muslim can dare disobey Allah’s commands.