Under faraid: Abu Hanifa gives the grandfather everything, excluding the brothers. The other three schools have him share, taking at least a third of the residue.
The Canadian position
Ontario gives siblings and grandparents nothing while nearer kin survive, and otherwise distributes by degree of kinship.
Provincial intestacy applies only where there is no valid will. A will can direct the faraid distribution instead, and Canadian testamentary freedom makes that enforceable.
The Islamic position
Abu Hanifa gives the grandfather everything, excluding the brothers. The other three schools have him share, taking at least a third of the residue.
Shares are calculated on the net estate after funeral expenses, debts including unpaid mahr, and any bequest capped at one third.
One school against three. Abu Hanifa treats the grandfather exactly as a father: the brothers and sisters take nothing. Malik, al-Shafi’i and Ahmad — and, inside the Hanafi school itself, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad — follow Zayd ibn Thabit: the grandfather inherits with them, sharing as though he were one of the brothers, but never taking less than a guaranteed minimum. There is no verse and no hadith fixing the answer; the Mawsu’a says so in terms, and the rule rests on Companion ijtihad.
All four Sunni schools researched and sourced. Reviewed 2026-09-01. Full positions, evidence and sources — Does a grandfather exclude the deceased’s brothers and sisters?.
Related madhhab issue: The order of payment out of an estate.
Making an Islamic will in Canada — province by province, and what makes one valid where you live →
What to do about it
- Have the shares calculated for your actual family by someone trained in faraid.
- Have a lawyer draft them into a provincially valid will.
- Review after any birth, death, marriage or divorce.
Configurations change as family members are born and die. Draft the will in conditional fractions rather than fixed dollar amounts so it stays correct.
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
- Encyclopaedia of Islam — Brill
- Succession Law Reform Act, RSO 1990, c S.26 — Government of Ontario
- Administering estates — Government of Ontario
- Intestacy ontario no will distribution — Treadstone Law
- Half siblings intestacy ontario — Treadstone Law
- What is preferential share ontario intestacy — Treadstone Law
- Business held in a family trust not direct shares — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law