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Is it permissible for a Muslim to inherit from his Christian father? If not, does a Muslim inherit from his Christian wife after her death? Is it permissible for him to take something from his father during his lifetime? Is it permissible for him to take the inheritance and give it to charitable organizations if the state will seize it?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The majority view is that a Muslim does not inherit from a disbeliever, based on the hadith: "A Muslim does not inherit from a disbeliever, nor does a disbeliever inherit from a Muslim." Therefore, the husband does not inherit from his Christian father, and he is not permitted to give his father's money to charitable organizations because he does not own it. The fact that the state will take it does not change the ruling, for the money of the Christian belongs to the people of his religion. Likewise, a Muslim man married to a Christian woman does not inherit from her. As for a Muslim taking money from his disbelieving father during his lifetime, that is permissible, unless it is something forbidden like alcohol or pork.

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

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