Where the four schools stand
Agreed. No. Where a surplus is returned to the fixed-share heirs, a surviving husband or wife is not among those it goes to. Ibn Qudama states it in terms: “as for the two spouses, nothing is returned to them, by the agreement of the people of knowledge”. Ibn Rushd, describing the same doctrine as the jurists of Iraq practised it, says the surplus goes to the fixed-share heirs “except for the husband and wife”. The reason both give is the same: those who take by radd take as blood relatives, on the words of Surah al-Anfal 8:75, and a spouse is related by marriage, not by blood. Note the structure behind the agreement, because it is not uniform. In the Hanafi and Hanbali schools the spouse is expressly excluded from a doctrine those schools do operate. In the classical Maliki and Shafi’i schools the question does not arise at all, because those schools recognise no radd to anyone; the surplus left the family altogether. Either way the answer to the question asked is the same, and we checked it. The one contrary report — that ‘Uthman returned a surplus to a husband — Ibn Qudama treats as explicable on other grounds: the man was probably also an agnate or a blood relative, or was given the money out of the treasury rather than as inheritance. We checked this point; the schools do not differ on it.
Shared evidence: al-Mughni, Kitab al-Fara’id, mas’ala 4855 — “radd is made to all the fixed-share heirs in proportion to their shares, except the husband and the wife” · Bidayat al-Mujtahid, Book of Fara’id — radd “to the sharers, except for the husband and wife” · Surah al-Anfal 8:75 — “blood relatives are now entitled to inherit from one another”, the ground on which the spouse is excluded.
Not covered by this finding: what happens where a surviving spouse is the only heir left at all, and how modern statutory codes in Muslim-majority states have changed the classical position on that case — not yet researched school by school. Treat that as open and ask a scholar of your school.
Researched finding from our madhhab register — issue radd-spouse, reviewed 2026-08-19.
Full evidence and history: Does a surviving spouse share in the radd? — the issue page.
Questions that turn on this
Every answer below renders its madhhab position from this one entry, so the positions cannot drift apart between pages.
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.
- al-Mughni, Kitab al-Fara’id, mas’ala 4855: “yuraddu ‘ala kulli ahl al-fara’id ‘ala qadri mirathihim, illa’l-zawja wa’l-zawjah” — Ibn Qudama al-Maqdisi (d. 620 AH)
- Bidayat al-Mujtahid wa Nihayat al-Muqtasid, vol. 2 — Book of Wasaya (bequests) and Book of Fara’id (inheritance), trans. Imran Ahsan Khan Nyazee — Ibn Rushd (Averroes, d. 595 AH)