Islamic Law of Inheritance

The first branch of knowledge to be taken away from the ummah is knowledge of inheritance.

The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace), said: “Learn inheritance and teach it for it is half the knowledge and it will be forgotten, and it is the first thing to be ripped from my Ummah.” [Ibn Majah 2710]

This is happening now. Students of knowledge either shy away from learning inheritance law or they couldn’t find qualified teachers to teach them the inheritance law. And even well known Islamic colleges and universities don’t put much emphasis in teaching inheritance law. If you survey the graduates in Islamic studies, you will find that most of them don’t even understand the basics of the Islamic inheritance law.

The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) also said: “Learn inheritance and teach it to people for I am a mortal being and knowledge will decrease until two people would differ among themselves over inheritance, but wouldn’t find an arbitrator.” [Nisa’i 6305]

Look around you. You will see the truth of the Prophet’s statement — families divided over property, children hurt over parental preference in wills, siblings no longer on speaking terms with each other. 

Islamic inheritance laws are there to preserve certain things, and among those things, is to preserve our families and societies. It gives balance to our lives.