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How is the estate of a deceased father divided, taking into account the gifts and grants he specifically allocated to some of his children during his lifetime, and do these gifts count as part of the inheritance or not?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A father must be just among his children, male and female, in giving gifts. Favoring some over others is an act of injustice and wrongdoing, as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Fear Allah and be just among your children." If a father singles out some children for a gift or favors them without a legitimate religious reason, he is committing a sin, and he must return what he favored them with, or give the others a similar amount to what he gave to the one he favored. If he dies before doing so, what was received by the one who was given the gift becomes theirs. The one who was favored or singled out by the father with a gift is not obligated to return it and share it with their siblings, but it is commendable for them to do so. Whatever a man gave to his wife and she possessed it before his death or death-sickness, it becomes exclusively hers. Any wealth the father leaves behind in his account, or real estate, or anything else, is to be divided as Allah commanded, with the wife receiving one-eighth, and the remainder divided among the children, with the male receiving the share of two females.

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

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