Nominating a Person as an Heir in One’s
Property
(This article was
basically written in reply to some comments/criticisms
that I received from a brother, on my article: “Understanding
the Law of Inheritance of the Qur’an“. It may kindly be noted that in contrast to
the general writings on this web site, this article is of a comparatively technical nature
and knowledge of the Arabic language may be necessary to fully comprehend it.)
Mr. Sultan while commenting on my article “Understanding the Law of Inheritance of the Qur’an“,
writes:
“The nomination of a
person, relative or not, to get the rest of the inheretence does not seem right. What is
his [Learner’s] source to support this point? Did the Quran mention it?! No book nor
dictionary refared to nomination!!!“
This comment is probably made on the following
statement of my original article:
“… if a person wants to
add any kalalah relative (brothers and/or sisters, in the presence of children, and
maternal and/or paternal aunts and uncles etc.) with the inheritors specified in the
Qur’an, in their absence or after their share has been given, he can do so by nominating
the desired person. Such nomination cannot be made for any of the persons whose share has
been specified in the Qur’an, neither can such nominations alter any of the shares
specified in the Qur’an.”
If my explanation of the word “Kalaalah”
as used in the Qur’an is accepted to be correct (please see the article ‘The Meaning of the word “Kalaalah“‘),
then the verse in which the particular word has been used is itself an answer to Mr.
Sultan’s comment. If my explanation of the word is accepted to be correct, then the
translation of the related part of Al-Nisaa 4: 12 will be:
And if a man or a
woman is made an heir on account of being a Kalaalah [relative]…
or:
And if a man or a
woman is made an heir on account of his/her Kalaalah relationship [with the
deceased]…
In either case, it is quite obvious that the “Kalaalah”
relative shall [at least in most of the cases] be made an heir through nomination of the
deceased himself. Thus, if my explanation of the word “Kalaalah” is
correct, then this verse is a clear evidence that a person can nominate any one of his
relatives [or even non-relatives] to be one of the heirs to inherit his property.
Moreover, it should also be kept in mind that
nominating any person to be the heir (or one of the heirs) of a person’s property is one
of the basic ownership rights of the owner of that property. The question now is whether
such a basic ownership right has been curtailed by the Shari`ah or not. If Mr.
Sultan thinks that the Shari`ah has limited or curtailed this ownership right of
a person, then it is his duty to provide the source of such limitation from the Qur’an and
the Sunnah.
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