A net estate of $360,000 after funeral expenses, debts and any bequest. Here is what Islamic law does with it, and what Canadian law does.
Under faraid
The four schools do not divide this estate the same way. Each grouping below is what that school actually gives, on the researched positions in our madhhab register.
Hanafi and Hanbali
| Heir | Share | Amount | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Husband | 1/2 | $180,000 | one half, no children |
| Mother | 1/6 | $60,000 | one sixth — children or two or more siblings survive |
| Uterine siblings (2, shared equally) | 1/3 | $120,000 | males and females take equally here |
Maliki and Shafi’i
| Heir | Share | Amount | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Husband | 1/2 | $180,000 | one half, no children |
| Mother | 1/6 | $60,000 | one sixth — children or two or more siblings survive |
| Uterine siblings (2, shared equally) | 1/6 | $60,000 | the third, shared equally with the full siblings |
| Full brothers (2) | 1/6 | $60,000 | sharing the uterine third equally, the mushtaraka rule |
This is the mushtaraka case, and the schools split two against two. The fixed shares here use the estate up, so the full siblings, who inherit only as residuaries, take nothing — that is the Hanafi and Hanbali result and it is the one calculated above. The Maliki and Shafi'i schools instead divide the uterine siblings' third equally among all the siblings, full and uterine, brother and sister alike. On those two schools the figures above understate the full siblings and overstate the uterine ones.
Shares total 1. Figures rounded to whole dollars.
Under Canadian law
Ontario gives the whole estate to a surviving spouse where there are no children, so on these facts none of the siblings or the mother would receive anything at all under the provincial formula.
What makes the difference
This is the case the jurists call the mushtaraka, and it is the second place the schools differ on the arithmetic. The husband's half, the mother's sixth and the uterine siblings' third use the estate up exactly. Because full brothers inherit only as residuaries, the Hanafi and Hanbali schools leave them with nothing. The Maliki and Shafi'i schools divide that third equally among all four siblings instead — and unusually, a brother takes no more than a sister within it, because each of them takes as a child of the same mother.
Real estates involve debts, taxes, beneficiary designations and jointly held property that change the arithmetic substantially. Run your own family through the calculator, then confirm the result with a scholar and a lawyer.
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.
- Research Papers — Cambridge Muslim College
- Academics — Islamic law and theology curriculum — Zaytuna College
- Renovatio: The Journal of Zaytuna College — Zaytuna College
- Oxford Islamic Studies / Oxford Reference — Oxford University Press
- Encyclopaedia of Islam — Brill
- 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
- Succession Law Reform Act, RSO 1990, c S.26 — Government of Ontario
- Administering estates — Government of Ontario
- Wills, Estates and Succession Act, SBC 2009, c 13 — BC Laws
- Half siblings intestacy ontario — Treadstone Law
- Does spouse inherit if no will ontario — Treadstone Law
- Matrimonial home one spouse never lived there — Treadstone Law
- Executor bond amount how calculated ontario — Treadstone Law
- Ontario intestacy no spouse no children — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law