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What is the ruling on taking a portion of the mother's money as compensation for the unfair distribution of inheritance that she carried out?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The matter of inheritances and joint rights is extremely complex, and the Sharia courts are the authorized body to resolve disputes concerning them. We will suffice by clarifying some issues related to this topic:

1. A father's spending on his children is according to need and custom, and it ceases upon the father's death. His estate then becomes the property of the heirs according to their prescribed shares. Any amount spent from the estate on education, if the heirs do not donate it, becomes a debt upon them. 2. Dividing the inheritance contrary to the prescribed shares or depriving an heir of his right is clear injustice. Allah Almighty Himself undertook the division of inheritances and defined their shares. 3. If the heirs agree to exclude some of them with a known amount from the estate or from other sources, this is known as "takhāruj" (mutual disengagement or exit), and it can be a reconciliation, a sale, an exchange, or a gift and a relinquishment of a right. 4. A gift with a condition of compensation has the ruling of a sale, and it is stipulated that the compensation must be known. If it is unknown, the gift is invalid. 5. If the division that took place was a relinquishment of part of your right or a gift from you with a known compensation, then there is no objection to accepting it. However, if the compensation was unknown and the gift was invalid, then the estate must be re-divided justly according to the prescribed shares. 6. It is not permissible for parents to favor one of their children in giving gifts unless there is a legitimate justification, and justice must be observed among the children.

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

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