Sharh · explanationclick to expand
Allah, Exalted is He,clarified the Laws of Islam provisions pertaining to the division of inheritance, Wasiyyah (i.e., last will and testament), and bequests in the Quran, and the Prophet ﷺ delineated them in the Sunnah. In this hadeeth, ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with them) said thatthe custom (in earlier days), i.e., before the ayaat about the division of the inheritance were revealed, was that the property of a deceased person would be inherited by his children, and the parents (of the deceased) would inherit according to the Wasiyyah, meaning by means of bequest. The deceased would make a bequest in favor of one or both of the parents. Afterward, Allah, Exalted is He, abrogated and cancelled whatever He wished of such customary practices and approved what He willed for His servants, by revealing the ayaat about the division of the inheritance. For instance, Allah, Exalted is He, revealed (what means): {Allah instructs you concerning your children: for the male, what is equal to the share of two females.} [Quran 4:11]. According to these ayaat, Allah, Exalted is He, decreed that a male child inherits double the share of the female, and fixed for each parent a sixth (of the whole estate), as stated in the ayah that reads (what means): {And for one's parents, to each one of them is a sixth of his estate if he left children…} [Quran 4:11]. Allah, Exalted is He, also prescribed for the wife an eighth of the estate if the husband had children (with her or with another wife) or otherwise a fourth. Similarly, a husband is entitled to half of his wife’s estate if she had no children (with him or with another husband), or a fourth if she had children (with him or with another husband). Allah, Exalted is He, Says (what means): {And for you is half of what your wives leave if they have no child. But if they have a child, for you is one fourth of what they leave, after any bequest they [may have] made or debt. And for the wives is one fourth if you leave no child. But if you leave a child, then for them is an eighth of what you leave …} [Quran 4:12]..