An Examination of Legal Importance of Estate Distribution in Islam
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2018-11-30
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Department of Islamic Law, Faculty of Law, Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, Kwara State
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There was no even distribution of estate prior to the revelation of the Quranic injunctions on distribution of estate. The distribution of estate was more or less confined to male agnate relatives of the deceased. The estate owner was at liberty to will out his property anyhow and to anyone he so wishes before his death. Women’s right to inheritance were not recognized, in fact, they were part of the estate to be inherited. These were the prevalence practices throughout the world with little or no dichotomy. However, with the arrival of Islamic system of inheritance, Quranic injunctions introduced and recognized new set of heirs therefore; concentration of wealth in the hands of few individuals was abolished thereby ensuring the socio-economic welfare of the society at large based on blood relatives of the deceased, marriage affinities, slave-master relationship and the generality of Muslim Ummah through the public treasury. This paper, among others, briefly introduces basic and fundamental principle of Islamic law of inheritance, examines briefly, criticisms against estate distribution in Islam and lastly, discusses religio-legal importance of estate distribution in Islamic law.
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Al-Hikmah University Journal of Islamic Law (HUJIL)