The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: Knowledge has
three categories; anything else is extra; a precise verse,
or an established sunnah (practice), or a firm obligatory
duty.
I fell ill, and I had seven sisters. The Apostle of
Allah (peace_be_upon_him) came to me and blew on my face.
So I became conscious. I said: Apostle of Allah, may I not
bequeath one-third of my property to my sisters? He
replied: Do good. I asked: Half? He replied: Do good. He
then went out and left me, and said: I do not think, Jabir,
you will die of this disease. Allah has revealed (verses)
and described the share of your sisters. He appointed
two-thirds for them. Jabir used to say: This verse was
revealed about me: "They ask thee for a legal decision.
Say: Allah directs (thus) about those who leave no
descendants or ascendants as heirs.
A man came to the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) and said:
Apostle of Allah, they ask thee for a legal decision about
a kalalah. What is meant by kalalah? He replied: The verse
revealed in summer is sufficient for you.
I asked AbuIshaq: Does it mean a person who dies and
leaves neither children nor father? He said: This is so.
The people think it is so.
We went out with the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him)
and came to a woman of the Ansar in al-Aswaf. The woman
brought her two daughters, and said: Apostle of Allah,
these are the daughters of Thabit ibn Qays who was killed
as a martyr when he was with you at the battle of Uhud,
their paternal uncle has taken all their property and
inheritance, and he has not left anything for them. What
do you think, Apostle of Allah? They cannot be married
unless they have some property. The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him)
said: Allah will decide regarding the matter. Then the
verse of Surat an-Nisa was revealed: "Allah (thus) directs
you as regards your children's (inheritance)." Apostle of
Allah (peace_be_upon_him) said: Call to me the woman and
her husband's brother. He then said to their paternal
uncle: Give them two-thirds and their mother an eighth,
and what remains is yours.
Qabisah ibn Dhuwayb said: A grandmother came to AbuBakr
asking him for her share of inheritance. He said: There is
nothing prescribed for you in Allah's Book, nor do I know
anything for you in the Sunnah of the Prophet of Allah (peace_be_upon_him)
Go home till I question the people. He then questioned the
people, and al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah said: I had been
present with the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) when
he gave grandmother a sixth. AbuBakr said: Is there anyone
with you? Muhammad ibn Maslamah stood and said the same as
al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah had said. So AbuBakr made it apply
to her. Another grandmother came to Umar ibn al-Khattab
asking him for her share of inheritance. He said: Nothing
has been prescribed for you in Allah's Book. The decision
made before you was made for a grandmother other than you.
I am not going to add in the shares of inheritance; but it
is that sixth. If there are two of you, it is shared
between you, but whichever of you is the only one left
gets it all.
A man came to the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) and said:
My son has died; what do I receive from his estate? He
replied: You receive a sixth. When he turned away he
called him and said: You receive another sixth. When he
turned away, he called him and said: The other sixth is an
allowance (beyond what is due).
Qatadah said: They (the Companions) did not know the
heirs with whom he was given (a sixth). Qatadah said: The
minimum share given to the grandfather was a sixth.
Al-Hasan reported that Umar asked: Which of your knows
what share the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) had
given to the grandfather from the estate? Ma'qil ibn Yasar
said: The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) gave him a
sixth. He asked: Along with whom? He replied: I do not
know. He said: You do not know; what is the use then?
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: Divide the
property among those whose share have been prescribed in
the Book of Allah, and what remains from the prescribed
shares goes to the nearest male heirs.
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: If anyone leaves
a debt or a helpless family I shall be responsible-and
sometimes the narrator said: Allah and His Apostle will be
responsible-but if anyone leaves property, it goes to his
heirs. I am the heirs of him who has none, paying
blood-wit for him and inheriting from him; and a maternal
uncle is the heir of him who has none, paying blood-wit
for him and inheriting from him.
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: I am nearer to
every believer than himself, so if anyone leaves a debt or
a helpless family, I shall be responsible, but if anyone
leaves property, it goes to his heirs. I am patron of him
who has none, inheriting his property and freeing him from
his liabilities. A maternal uncle is patron of him who has
none, inheriting his property and freeing him from his
liabilities.
I heard the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) say: I
am the heirs of Him who has none, freeing him from his
liabilities, and inheriting what he possesses. A maternal
uncle is the heir of Him who has none, freeing him from
his liabilities, and inheriting his property.
A client of the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) died and
left some property, but he left no child or relative. The
Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) said: Give what he
has left to a man belonging to his village.
A man came to the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him)
and said: I have property left by a man of Azd. I do not
find any man of Azd to give it to him. He said: Go and
look for man of Azd for a year. He then came to him after
one year and said: Apostle of Allah, I did not find any
man of Azd to give it to him. He said: Look for a man of
Khuza'ah whom you meet first and give it to him. When he
turned away, he said; Call the man to me. When he came to
him, he said: Look for the leading man of Khuza'ah and
give it to him.
A man of Khuza'ah died and his estate was brought to
the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him). He said: Look for his
heir or some relative. But they found neither heir nor
relative. The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) said:
Give it to the leading man of Khuza'ah. The narrator Yahya
said: Sometimes I heard him (al-Husayn ibn Aswad) say in
this tradition: Look for the greatest man of Khuza'ah.
A man died leaving no heir but a slave whom he had
emancipated. The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him)
asked: Has he any heir? They replied: No, except a slave
whom he had emancipated. The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him)
assigned his estate to him (the emancipated slave).
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: A woman gets
inheritance from the three following: one she has set
free, a foundling, and her child about whom she has
invoked a curse on herself if she was untrue in declaring
he was not born out of wedlock.
The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) assigned the
estate of a child of a woman about whom she had invoked a
curse to her mother, and to her heirs after her.
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: An estate which
was divided in pre-Islamic period may follow the division
in force then, but any estate in Islamic times must follow
the division laid down by Islam.
Amr ibn Shu'ayb reported: Rabab ibn Hudhayfah married a
woman and three sons were born to him from her. Their
mother then died. They inherited her houses and had the
right of inheritance of her freed slaves.
Amr ibn al-'As was the agnate of her sons. He sent them
to Syria where they died. Amr ibn al-'As then came. A
freed slave of hers died and left some property. Her
brothers disputed with him and brought the case to Umar
ibn al-Khattab.
Umar reported the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him)
as saying: Whatever property a son or a father receives as
an heir will go to his agnates, whoever they may be. He
then wrote a document for him, witnessed by AbdurRahman
ibn Awf, Zayd ibn Thabit and one other person. When
AbdulMalik became caliph, they presented the case to
Hisham ibn Isma'il or Isma'il ibn Hisham (the narrator is
doubtful).
He sent them to AbdulMalik who said: This is the
decision which I have already seen.
The narrator said: So he (AbdulMalik) made the decision
on the basis of the document of Umar ibn al-Khattab, and
that is still with us today.
Tamim asked: Apostle of Allah), what is the sunnah
about a man who accepts Islam by advice and persuasion of
a Muslim? He replied: He is the nearest to him in life and
in death.
Sa'id said: Umar ibn al-Khattab said: Blood-money is
meant for the clan of the slain, and she will not inherit
from the blood-money of her husband. Ad-Dahhak ibn Sufyan
said: The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) wrote to me
that I should give a share to the wife of Ashyam ad-Dubabi
from the blood-money of her husband. So Umar withdrew his
opinion.
Ahmad ibn Salih said: AbdurRazzaq transmitted this
tradition to us from Ma'mar, from az-Zuhri on the
authority of Sa'id. In this version he said: The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him)
made him governor over the bedouins.