Under faraid: Husband one half; mother one third; sister one half — the shares exceed the estate, so 'awl applies.
The Canadian position
Ontario gives the husband the whole estate where there are no children.
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
Husband one half; mother one third; sister one half — the shares exceed the estate, so 'awl applies.
Shares are calculated on the net estate after funeral expenses, debts including unpaid mahr, and any bequest capped at one third.
Yes — every fixed-share heir is cut back by the same proportion, none is dropped. The device is called ‘awl: the denominator is raised until it equals the shares actually due, so a half becomes three-sevenths, an eighth becomes a ninth. The Kuwaiti Mawsu’a states the doctrine and then says in terms that it is the view of the four imams. The rule goes back to ‘Umar, who put the first such estate to the Companions and divided it bi’l-hisas — pro rata — with no one dissenting at the time.
All four Sunni schools researched and sourced. Reviewed 2026-09-01. Full positions, evidence and sources — When the fixed shares over-subscribe the estate, is everyone reduced?.
Related madhhab issue: What a husband and a wife inherit.
Related madhhab issue: What a father and a mother inherit.
Related madhhab issue: Kalalah — who inherits when there is no parent and no child?.
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
- Children born outside marriage intestacy ontario — Treadstone Law
- Business held in a family trust not direct shares — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law