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Does the son of a deceased sister inherit from the maternal uncle when there are two sons of male siblings, three daughters, and a wife?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The children of a sister are not heirs; they are considered dhawu al-arham (relatives through the womb) who inherit only when there is no heir by fard (fixed share) or ta'sib (agnatic succession). There is no harm for the maternal uncle to bequeath one-third or less of his wealth to his sister's children, as the Prophet (peace be upon him) said to Sa'd: "AND A THIRD IS MUCH."

If the deceased left behind three daughters, a wife, and two nephews (sister's sons), the inheritance is divided after fulfilling all rights as follows: For the wife: One-eighth due to the presence of a lineal descendant heir, as Allah Almighty says: "But if you have a child, then for them is one eighth of what you leave." For the three daughters: Two-thirds of the inheritance, as Allah Almighty says: "But if there are [only] daughters, two or more, for them is two-thirds of what he left." The remainder after the wife's share is returned to the daughters, but not to the wife; for it is by consensus that spouses do not receive a return of surplus inheritance. The sister's children do not inherit anything.

The inheritance is divided into 24 shares: 3 shares for the wife, and 7 shares for each daughter.

Matters of inheritance should be referred to the Sharia courts, as there might be wills, debts, or other rights that take precedence over the heirs' rights.

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

Read the full answer on Ftawy