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What is the share of each heir from the deceased's estate, if he left behind a father, a mother, two daughters, and a wife?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The mother of the deceased receives one-sixth as a prescribed share, and his father receives one-sixth as a prescribed share, due to the presence of a surviving offspring. Allah Almighty said: "And for his parents, each of them gets a sixth of what he left if he had a child." His wife receives one-eighth as a prescribed share, due to the presence of a surviving offspring. Allah Almighty said: "But if you have a child, then for them is one-eighth of what you leave, after any bequest you may make or debt." His two daughters receive two-thirds as a prescribed share, based on what was authentically narrated from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, that he gave the two daughters of Sa'd ibn Ar-Rabi' two-thirds, and scholars have unanimously agreed on this.

The issue is 'awl (a legal term in inheritance where the sum of the prescribed shares exceeds the total estate). Therefore, the inheritance is divided into twenty-seven shares: the mother receives four shares, the father receives four shares, the wife receives three shares, and the two daughters receive sixteen shares, with each daughter receiving eight shares.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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