The importance of Rules of Inheritance (Fara’id) in a Muslim’s Society Estate Planning

By  Nik Fadzrina bt Nik Hussain & Shaikh Hamzah Abdul Razak

Abstract

In inheritance the Western or civil rules allows that we can give the inheritance to anyone that we wish to, be it a family member, outsiders, or even our pets. The civil law recognizes such desires and upholds these wishes even though we deprive our heirs from receiving it especially so where estates worth millions are left to pets. It can be considered as an injustice to the heirs, but they are helpless. Even when challenging the legitimacy of such wills, the civil courts tends to recognize and uphold the wills to be valid. In Islamic context, Islamic law protects the rights of an individual to own or to inherit the estate or wealth but it does not allow any means or tools to hoard money. It is a balanced economic system that allows free movement and circulation of wealth among the masses. Islam develops laws and ethical system that enforces legal and halal means to accumulating wealth and a balanced way of spending and distributing it. It recognizes the rights of others to such wealth through Zakat, Charity and Inheritance. The law of inheritance is comprehensive legal system that allows legal beneficiaries who are eligible to claim their share of the inheritance as commanded by Allah in the Qur’an. No one is being deprived from his/her rights in the inheritance. The rights of the state are also upheld where taxes on inheritance or even debts are to be paid prior to distribution. Under certain circumstances the State can also be one of the beneficiaries of the inheritance under Islamic jurisprudence.