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Assalamualikum Mufti sahab We are a family from Kenya and recently had a family tragedy wherein my sister and her family were involved in a fatal car accident whilst on a visit to South Africa. the question of inheritance has arisen and i wrote to Mufti Siraj Desai and my detailed qustion and his response are copied hereunder, based on the Hanafee Fiqh. I would appreciate if you could go through the question and the response and advise whether the fatwa is OK. I need to do this as i have to consult widely and be absolutely sure, to avoid disputes in the family. Please note that the qustion was in 2 parts as initially their daughter Asiya survived the accident but also passed on after 30 days. Jazakallah Muhammad Munir From: Munir [mailto:munir@HASSPETROLEUM.COM] Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 8:10 AM To: Darul Uloom Abu Bakr Subject: RE: Web Form: Assalamualikum, inheritance according to the Hanafee madhhab Assalamualikum, My question is as follows: We have recently had a family tragedy, whereby my sister and her family were involved in a car accident near Albertinia in South Africa. The occupants of the car were my sister, her husband and their 2 children, a boy aged 21 and a girl aged 19. My sister, her husband and their son passed on on the spot, ie the police say that when they reached the site ( in about 10 or 15 mins after the accident), the three were no longer there. Their daughter is in George Hospital in ICU but is stable. There is now a question of inheritance and would request for your advice on this based on the Hanafee school of thought. The family is as follows: 1-Deceased Name, Ebraheem ( driving the vehicle) aged 53, ( wife and son passed away in the same accident) Has daughter Asya who has survived the accident but is in ICU and stable condition 19 years old and not married. Has mother who is alive, and has 2 bothers and 2 sisters. 2- Deceased name, Lutfunnisa ( seated next to her husband) aged 48, ( husband and son passed away in the same accident) Has 1 daughter Asya who has survived the accident. Has father and mother both alive. Has 1 brother and no sisters. 3- Deceased name, Assad ( 21 year old son to ebrahim and lutfun and not married) Has 1 sister Asya who has survived the accident. Has grandmother ( father’s mother) alive Has grandmother ( mother’s mother) alive Has grandfather ( mother’s father ) alive Has 2 paternal uncles alive. Has 2 paternal aunts alive. Has 1 maternal uncle alive. Based on this we request you to please assist in working out the inheritance ( as a fraction) entitlement to each of the heirs, considering that all three deceased have property in their names. If you need any other information, please let me know. Jazakallah and Maassalaam, Your brother in Islam, Mohammad Munir Ayub Assalamualiku Muhammad Munir Firstly my humble apologies for keeping you waiting these few days. I have been quite busy these last few days. Secondly. please accept my deepest condolences to you and your relatives for this tragic loss. Allah grant the survivor speedy recovery, and may He grant sabr to the family and Jannatul-Firdous to the dead aameen. I think I read about this accident in one of the online news sites. May Allah protect us all from such tragedies, aameen. The division of this estate is explained hereunder. Please read carefully According to the majority of Jurists, including the Hanafi and Shaafi Scholars, when relatives pass away at one and the same time, they will not inherit from each other. However, the living heirs of all the deceased will inherit as normal. This means that Ebrahim will not inherit from his wife Lutfunnisaa and vice verse. Likewise, the son Assad will not inherit from either of his parents and vice versa. This is because they all passed away together and it is almost impossible to tell who died first. As for the heirs, you have quite clearly mentioned the list and we will provide the shares accordingly. DECEASED 1: EBRAHIM Surviving heirs: Mother; Daughter Asya; 2 brothers and 2 sisters. From the estate of late Ebrahim, his mother will inherit 16.66%, daughter Asya will inherit 50%, each brother 11.11% and each sister 5.56%. DECEASED 2: LUTFUNNISA Surviving heirs: Father, Mother, Daughter Asya, and 1 brother. From the estate on the late Lutfun, her Father will receive 33.34%, mother will receive 16.66% and the daughter will receive 50%. The brother will not inherit due to the presence of the father. DECEASED 3: ASSAD Surviving heirs: Paternal Grandmother (Father’s mother); Maternal Grandfather (mother’s father); Maternal Grandmother (mother’s mother); sister Asya. His estate will be divided as follows: 75% will go to the sister and the remaining 25% will go to the two grandmothers, which they will share equally, i.e. 12.5% each. The Maternal Grandfather will not inherit since he does fall under the first two primary categories of heirs, viz Quranic heirs (Ashaabul-Faraaidh) and residual heirs (those who collect the residue after Quranic heirs have been disbursed – known as asabah). Maternal grandfather, uncles, aunts, etc fall under the category of zhawil-arhaam or relatives of the deceased who do not normally inherit. In the presence of the first two categories of heirs, the third category automatically falls away and is out of the reckoning for inheritance. The category of zhawil-arhaam only inherits when no one of the first two categories is alive. To facilitate distribution, the properties must be evaluated on a market-related basis and the above percentages be apportioned to each heir according to that evaluation. Properties could be sold and the proceeds distributed as mentioned above. If properties are not sold then all the heirs mentioned above will hold shares in all these properties according to the percentages stated. Feel free to write back if you need clarification on any aspect related to this matter. Wassalaam Siraj Desai Malabar Port Elizabeth From: Munir [mailto:munir@HASSPETROLEUM.COM] Sent: Friday, January 08, 2010 8:27 AM To: Siraj Desai Subject: RE: Web Form: Assalamualikum, inheritance according to the Hanafee madhhab Assalamualikum Indeed you must have read of the accident as it was all over the south African news. We are from Nairobi, Kenya and Ebrahim bhai and his family had come to Cape town on the graduation of their son Assad, who had graduated as a dentist from the uni. Of western cape. Asya had been hospitalised in George Hospital in George as it was the nearest big town from the accident scene. We buried all of them in George, and Alhamdulillah, the support from the local muslim community was overwhelming. They portrayed the actual spirit of Islamic brotherhood. May Allah give them all Jazae Khair. I have now returned back to Nairobi, and indeed it is a very trying time for us all, especially my mother( Lutfun was her only surviving daughter and i the only son). Please pray for us that Allah give us the strength to handle this, and grant Jannat to all the Marhooms. There was one other question. Ebrahim and Lutfun had joint bank accounts, so there is the question of that also. Lutfun was a teacher and currently she was the headmistress of the Muslim Girls Secondary school in Nairobi where she had last year introduced an integrated system of education ( Islamic and the standard Kenyan system). How is her income to be treated ( which was being deposited in their joint bank account). Lastly my mother and father have made a niyyat to spend their portion on some project which can give the marhooms isale thawab. Please can you recommend what can be done in light of the Sharia. Jazakallah, Munir From: Siraj Desai [mailto:sdesai@askmufti.co.za] Sent: 09 January 2010 01:19 To: Munir Subject: RE: Web Form: Assalamualikum, inheritance according to the Hanafee madhhab Assalaamu alaykum Dear Munir Jazakallah for your response. Incidentally I visited George today (Friday) where I delivered the lecture and khutba, after which I met the Imam and he also told me about the janaaza and the support of the Muslim community there and in Cape Town. Indeed this is a very trying and testing time for all of you. Give me special salaams to your mother and tell her that I am making special dua for her. I fully understand the difficulty she is currently going through. There are four issues that arose since my first answer. Here are the answers to these four in sequence: 1) Asya (Allah treat her with His Kindness and Mercy) passed away and is survived by two grandmothers, a grandfather, and uncles and aunts. As explained in my earlier question, the maternal grandfather falls under the third line of heirs and will not inherit as long as there is even one heir of the first two categories. Therefore, the two grandmothers will share the entire estate of Asya, each receiving 50 percent. The maternal grandfather, uncles and aunts shall not inherit. The estate of Asya will be all her shares she earned from the estate of her father, mother, and brother who had predeceased her. These were explained in my previous email. 2) As regards the uncles and aunts of the late Asad, the same will be said as stated above, that they shall not inherit in the presence of Quranic heirs. 3) The funds in the joint bank account will be considered as joint ownership of husband and wife. That means that each spouse was entitled to 50 percent of the funds, and the shares must be divided accordingly. For example, when allocating a share to Ebrahim’s grandmother, she will be entitled to 16.66 percent from his half of the money in the account, and so forth. 4) For iesaal-e-thawaab I would suggest the money be donated to a musjid or madresa with specific instructions that the money must be used for a project that will continue indefinitely, such as musallas, Qurans, light-fittings, water systems, bore-holes, wells, books and stationary for students of Deen, and so forth. I trust I have answered your queries. Feel free to write to me again for further information on this issue. Was-salaam Siraj Desai Malabar Port Elizabeth

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