Sunni Islam has four surviving schools of law — madhahib, singular madhhab. They are not sects and not rival religions. They are four disciplined traditions of reading the same Qur’an and the same hadith, each carrying an unbroken chain of scholarship more than a thousand years long. All four are considered valid; a Muslim follows one, and may follow another on a particular question with sound reason.
For inheritance this matters in a very specific way. The schools agree on almost everything that determines a distribution — the fixed Qur’anic shares, the one-third bequest ceiling, the order in which debts are paid, the rule of proportional abatement. The disagreements are real but narrow, and they cluster in a handful of configurations. This page sets out both.
What all four agree on
It is worth stating the common ground first, because it is far larger than the differences and it is the part most often misrepresented.
| The Qur’anic fixed shares themselves | All four schools apply the same fixed fractions set out in Surah an-Nisa — the spouse’s half, quarter or eighth; the mother’s third or sixth; the daughters’ half or two thirds; and so on. Disagreement is at the edges, never at the core. |
| The bequest ceiling of one third | A Muslim may bequeath at most one third of the net estate by wasiyyah, and not to an heir who already takes a fixed share, unless the other heirs consent after death. Unanimous. |
| Debts and funeral expenses come first | The estate pays funeral costs and then debts before any distribution. Unanimous. |
| The male-female differential where it applies | Where a son and daughter inherit together as residuaries, the son takes twice the daughter’s share — a rule tied to the male’s maintenance obligations, not to relative worth. Unanimous, and frequently misunderstood. |
| ‘Awl — proportional abatement | Where the fixed shares add up to more than the whole estate, all shares abate proportionally. Adopted by all four schools, following ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab. |
The four schools
Each entry below gives the school’s founder, where it is followed, its scholarly character, and — the part that changes a distribution — the specific positions on inheritance where it departs from the others.
Hanafi
Founded on the teaching of Abu Hanifa al-Nu‘man (d. 150 AH / 767 CE)
The largest school by number of followers. Dominant across South Asia, Turkey, Central Asia, the Balkans, Egypt’s Hanafi courts and much of the Levant. In Canada it is the school most Muslims of Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi, Afghan and Turkish background follow.
Known for systematic legal reasoning and comparatively wide use of analogy (qiyas) and juristic preference (istihsan).
| Grandfather with siblings | Abu Hanifa excludes full and paternal siblings entirely when a paternal grandfather survives — the grandfather stands in the father’s place. This is the single largest divergence between the schools in practice, and it can change who inherits and by how much. |
| Dhawu al-arham (non-fixed relatives) | Hanafis give the estate to relatives such as a daughter’s children, a sister’s children or maternal uncles when no fixed sharer or residuary survives, rather than letting it pass out of the family. |
| Radd (return of surplus) | Applied: where fixed shares do not exhaust the estate and there is no residuary heir, the surplus returns proportionally to the blood heirs. |
Maliki
Founded on the teaching of Malik ibn Anas (d. 179 AH / 795 CE)
Dominant across North and West Africa — Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania, Senegal, Nigeria, Sudan — and in parts of the Gulf. Followed in Canada largely by Muslims of North and West African background.
Gives distinctive weight to the settled practice of the people of Madina (‘amal ahl al-Madina) as a source alongside text.
| Grandfather with siblings | The grandfather shares with full and paternal siblings rather than excluding them, taking no less than one third of the residue — against the Hanafi position. |
| Dhawu al-arham | Classically not given a share; the surplus went to the bayt al-mal (public treasury). Since no bayt al-mal operates in Canada, later Maliki scholars generally permit the return to blood relatives instead. |
| Radd | Classically withheld in favour of the bayt al-mal. In a non-Muslim state, contemporary Maliki scholars generally allow radd, since the alternative is the estate escheating to a non-Muslim treasury. |
Shafi‘i
Founded on the teaching of Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi‘i (d. 204 AH / 820 CE)
Dominant in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Yemen, East Africa, Kurdistan and parts of Egypt and the Levant — and, by population, covers a very large share of the world’s Muslims. In Canada, followed particularly by Muslims of Southeast African and Southeast Asian background.
Al-Shafi‘i systematised the theory of the sources of law (usul al-fiqh); his Risala is the foundational text of that discipline.
| Grandfather with siblings | The grandfather shares with siblings, with a floor of one third of the residue — with the Maliki and Hanbali position, against the Hanafi. |
| Dhawu al-arham | Classically excluded in favour of the bayt al-mal; contemporary practice in the West generally permits distribution to these relatives instead. |
| Radd | Classically withheld; in the absence of a functioning bayt al-mal, later and contemporary Shafi‘i scholars generally permit it. |
Hanbali
Founded on the teaching of Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH / 855 CE)
Dominant in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with adherents across the Gulf. The smallest of the four by number, but influential well beyond its size through Gulf institutions and scholarship.
Characterised by close adherence to hadith and a reluctance to depart from explicit text, though the school’s later development is considerably more flexible than its reputation suggests.
| Grandfather with siblings | The grandfather shares with siblings, one third of the residue as a floor — with the Maliki and Shafi‘i position. |
| Dhawu al-arham | Given a share, as in the Hanafi school — the estate stays within the family rather than passing to the treasury. |
| Radd | Applied, as in the Hanafi school. |
Which school applies to you?
Most Muslims follow the school of their family and community, usually without ever having chosen it deliberately. If you are unsure, the practical answers are: ask the imam of the mosque you attend; consider where your family comes from, since the schools track geography closely; or ask a scholar you trust.
For a will, what matters is that you state the school your estate should be distributed under, so that the person administering it is not left guessing. A distribution computed under one school and administered under another can be wrong in exactly the configurations set out above.
Where to go next
- The inheritance calculator — select your school and get a distribution with the reasoning shown.
- The glossary — 221 terms, each with the position of all four schools where they differ.
- Answers — 501 questions answered under both Islamic and Canadian law.
- Case studies — worked scenarios showing how the schools diverge on real family shapes.
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.
- 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
- Oxford Islamic Studies / Oxford Reference — Oxford University Press
- Islamic law of inheritance — scholarly overview — Oxford Bibliographies
- Research Papers — Cambridge Muslim College
- Academics — Islamic law and theology curriculum — Zaytuna College
- Renovatio: The Journal of Zaytuna College — Zaytuna College
- Al-Azhar Al-Sharif — Al-Azhar University
- Egyptian Dar al-Ifta — Dar al-Ifta al-Missriyyah
- International Islamic Fiqh Academy — Organisation of Islamic Cooperation