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What is the ruling of Sharia on a son dividing his deceased father's inheritance before his father's death, given that the son retrieved what he had given to his sisters on the pretext of buying houses in the father's name, while the male siblings bought houses for themselves? And is he obligated to return what he retrieved from his sisters and re-divide the remaining inheritance according to Sharia?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If a man gives his children a gift other than the obligatory maintenance, he must be just among them, according to the words of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: "Fear Allah and be just in your children." The Hanbalis hold that justice is achieved by making the male's share double the female's share, by analogy with inheritance, while the majority of scholars believe in equality between male and female. If the father differentiates in the gift and then dies, the children are obliged to rectify the division and establish justice, by completing the share of the females so that they receive half of what the males received, and then dividing the remaining inheritance.

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

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