What is the ruling of Islamic law concerning a wife whose husband has died, leaving behind wealth, and whose deferred dower (mahr mu’akhkhar) has not been paid, and she wishes to take it at the value of gold, knowing that this will exhaust the estate and leave nothing for the other heirs?

The deferred and unpaid portion of the dowry is a right and a debt owed by the husband to his wife. She has the right to demand all of it or to relinquish whatever portion she wishes. If she relinquishes the immediate portion but demands the deferred portion, then it is a debt that must be taken from the estate before its division, even if it consumes the entire estate. This is based on Allah's saying in the verses of inheritance: "after any legacy he may have bequeathed or a debt." Therefore, a human debt is religiously obligatory to be extracted from the estate before its distribution, in order to clear the deceased's liability. As for demanding the dowry in gold value, if the dowry was specified in a circulating currency, she receives the dowry in that same currency and does not have the right to demand its value in gold. However, if the specified currency is no longer valid, then the value of the deferred dowry is paid to her.