What is Faraid, and why does it have special rules?
Faraid is the Islamic science that determines the shares of legal heirs from an estate after a Muslim's death. The Quran details most of these shares precisely in Surah An-Nisa, making this one of the most precisely defined areas of Islamic jurisprudence. Inheritance distribution is not a matter of personal discretion, but fixed rulings that balance fairness among heirs based on their degree of kinship and responsibilities.
Steps for Dividing an Estate
- Funeral expenses: taken from the estate first, at a reasonable level.
- Settling debts: the deceased's debts are paid next, before any bequest or distribution.
- Executing a bequest (Wasiyyah): if one exists, it is carried out up to one-third of the remainder only, and, according to most jurists, may not go to an heir unless the other heirs consent after the death (Egyptian law, Article 37 of the Bequest Law, allows it within the third without consent).
- Distributing the rest to heirs: according to their legal shares detailed in the Quran and Sunnah.
Fixed-Share Heirs and Residuary Heirs
Heirs fall into two main categories: fixed-share heirs (Ashab al-Furud), who are given a defined share by Islamic law (such as half, a quarter, or a sixth), and residuary heirs (Asaba), who take whatever remains of the estate after the fixed-share heirs — and their share may be larger or smaller depending on the other heirs present. Sons, for example, inherit as residuary heirs; when they inherit alongside daughters, a son takes double a daughter's share.
Exclusion (hajb): who excludes whom?
- A son excludes son’s children, all brothers and sisters, and every residuary after them.
- The father excludes the grandfather and all brothers and sisters, and, according to the majority, the paternal grandmother (the Hanbali school lets her inherit alongside him).
- The mother excludes both grandmothers.
- Maternal half-siblings are excluded by any inheriting descendant (children or son’s children), the father and the grandfather.
- Two or more daughters exclude son’s daughters, unless a son’s son is with them and makes them residuaries. Two or more full sisters do the same to paternal half-sisters.
- A full sister with a daughter becomes a residuary (‘asaba ma‘a al-ghayr) and excludes paternal half-siblings and everyone after them.
An excluded relative inherits nothing. However, two or more siblings, even if excluded by the father, still reduce the mother’s share from one third to one sixth according to the majority of scholars, and the calculator applies this.
Disputed cases the calculator asks about
- Grandfather with full or paternal siblings: the Hanafi school treats the grandfather like the father, excluding them. The Maliki, Shafi‘i and Hanbali schools follow Zayd ibn Thabit: the grandfather takes the best of sharing with them, a third of the remainder or a sixth of the estate, with the special cases of al-Mu‘adda and al-Akdariyya; the Maliki school also has “al-Malikiyya”, where the grandfather takes the whole remaining third.
- Al-Mushtaraka (husband, mother or grandmother, two or more maternal siblings, and full brothers): the Hanafi and Hanbali schools give the full siblings nothing, since the fixed shares use up the estate. The Maliki and Shafi‘i schools let them share the maternal siblings’ third equally.
- Paternal grandmother with the father: excluded by the father according to the majority; inherits with him in the Hanbali school.
The “School of thought” option appears automatically only when your case is one of these. Personal status laws in some countries adopt a particular view on these questions, so check the law that applies where you are.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can this calculator replace an official inheritance certificate?
No. This calculator is a guidance tool that illustrates the general principle of inheritance distribution in common cases, and does not replace an official inheritance certificate issued by a competent judicial authority, which accounts for every legal and religious detail of the case.
How do I add siblings, grandparents or uncles?
Tap “Other heirs” below the daughters field and enter the relatives who are alive. The calculator applies exclusion automatically and lists, under the result, who was excluded and by whom, so you can see why a relative doesn’t inherit.
Do the maternal grandfather, a daughter’s children, maternal uncles or aunts inherit?
They (like the maternal grandfather, a sister’s children, a brother’s daughters, paternal aunts and maternal uncles and aunts) are “distant kindred” (dhawu al-arham) and don’t inherit alongside residuaries or fixed-share heirs other than a spouse. If only a spouse is left, the spouse takes their share and the rest goes to distant kindred according to the scholars who allow them to inherit; how it is divided among them is disputed, so the calculator doesn’t include them. Some countries (such as Egypt) also have an “obligatory bequest” for the children of a son or daughter who died before their parent, which is outside the calculator’s scope.
Why does a son receive double a daughter's share?
When sons and daughters inherit together, they inherit as residuary heirs (splitting what remains after fixed-share heirs) with a male receiving the share of two females — a rule explicitly stated in the Quran, reflecting the financial obligations that were (and in many contexts still are) placed on males, such as maintenance and dowry.
What is the "Awl" case that may appear in the result?
Awl occurs when the sum of the fixed-share heirs' portions exceeds the entire estate, in which case all shares are proportionally reduced to balance with the actual estate value. This calculator applies this correction automatically when it occurs.
What is “radd”, and does the spouse get it?
Radd is the opposite of ‘awl: if something is left after the fixed shares and there is no residuary, the remainder is returned to the fixed-share heirs in proportion to their shares, excluding the spouses according to the majority of scholars. If the only heir is a husband or wife and there are no distant kindred, the calculator gives the spouse the remainder, which is the practice in many personal status laws today. If distant kindred exist, the remainder goes to them according to those who allow them to inherit.