No, under both systems. Islamic law bars the killer; Canadian courts apply a public policy rule against profiting from one's own crime.
The Canadian position
The Canadian rule is largely judge-made rather than statutory in most provinces.
It applies to unlawful killing; the treatment of accidental death differs.
The Islamic position
All four schools bar a killer from inheriting, though they differ on whether accidental killing also bars.
The underlying principle is identical on both sides.
That a deliberate, unlawful killer inherits nothing is agreed: Ibn Qudama reports consensus on it, and the Kuwaiti Mawsu’a records the four imams as agreed that a killing carrying qisas bars an adult, sane, direct killer. The schools then separate over the edges. The Hanafis bar the accidental killer but not one who killed through mere causation, and not a child or an insane person. The Malikis, on the stronger view, bar only deliberate wrongful killing — the accidental killer loses the blood-money but still inherits from the estate. The Hanbalis bar every killing that carries liability, accidental killing included, but not a lawful one. The Shafi’is are the widest of all: anyone with a hand in the death is barred, even where the killing was entirely lawful.
All four Sunni schools researched and sourced. Reviewed 2026-09-01. Full positions, evidence and sources — An heir who killed the deceased.
Making an Islamic will in Canada — province by province, and what makes one valid where you live →
This is legal information only. For advice on your own circumstances, speak to a lawyer.
Citations & sources
Every factual claim on this page traces to a source below. Details change — check the original source before relying on any figure, fee or legal position. Anything under “further reading” is related material, not a source for what is stated here.
- Surah an-Nisa 4:11 — shares of children and parents — Quran.com
- Surah an-Nisa 4:12 — shares of spouses and uterine siblings — Quran.com
- Surah an-Nisa 4:176 — the kalalah verse — Quran.com
- Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 85: Laws of Inheritance (Faraid) — Sunnah.com
- Sahih Muslim, Book of Inheritance — Sunnah.com
- Canadian Legal Information Institute — CanLII
- Claim against sellers estate after death ontario — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law