Dear Hadi,
Dear Reader,
Thank you for your question. In the U.S., people are given wide latitude in managing their estate planning. That is to say, there are few “local laws” about inheritance, especially if someone has written a will or engaged in some other estate planning e.g. setting up a family trust. Given this wide latitude, anyone who wants to follow what they believe are shari’a laws for inheritance, are generally able to do so.
The Quran of course has set out specific shares for distribution to one’s relatives. Generally speaking, it is important that these proportions be respected and followed, as these are the rights of the heirs that God has ordained. Your question did not mention any specific concern about a particular inheritance consideration, so we’re unable to give much more of a detailed answer. But by way of example, some people are concerned about leaving unequal shares to their children, especially in cases where one child may have greater financial needs than the other children.
While we believe that the shares should not be changed based on personal considerations, such as liking one child more than another or that one child is nicer than another, there are situations that involve further considerations. Again, by way of example, the following inheritance-related issues came from an earlier reply to a reader’s question regarding leaving one daughter more of a share than their other daughter due to particular circumstances – you can read the entire response here.
1. If one’s child no longer identifies as Muslim, s/he can be excluded from inheritance. This is based on the Prophet’s (pbuh) hadith that “the Muslim does not inherit from the disbeliever nor the disbeliever from the Muslim.”
2. In Islamic jurisprudence, people have the option to bequeath some of their assets (up to 1/3 of their total estate) to individuals, charities, or other organizations, at their discretion. However, you should be aware that all four of the major Sunni schools of thought say this discretionary 1/3 cannot be used to supplement the inheritance of an heir whose share is already prescribed (such as your younger daughter), based on Prophetic hadith. Shia jurisprudence, however, does not limit distribution of the discretionary 1/3 in this manner.
3. Another method people use to distribute some of their wealth to particular individuals or organizations is to give it during their lifetime as a gift (hibah). In this regard, jurists generally agree that you are free to do this as you wish, and you can give your children whatever financial gifts you want. There are some considerations to keep in mind here, the main one being the Prophet’s hadith to “be just to your children.” This hadith revolved around an incident where a man came to the Prophet (pbuh) and told him that he had given a gift to his son. The Prophet inquired whether the man had given identical gifts to his other children. When the man replied that he had not, the Prophet asked him to then take the gift back, enjoining upon him equal treatment of his children in giving gifts. The question which the scholars grappled with in the face of this hadith was whether it was a hadith of “manners,” or a hadith of “law.” Meaning, was the Prophet (pbuh) giving advice that it is best to be equal with the children, or was he laying down a religious edict that it had to be so. Three of the four major schools of thought in Sunni jurisprudence interpreted it as a general guidance but not a legal stipulation. Therefore, according to them, preferential gifts are allowed, but not encouraged, and so you may be able to give one of your children a preferential gift. This may be quite justified in particular situations. They rely in their opinion on the fact that major companions, like Abu Bakr and Umar (ra), are reported to have given preferential gifts to some of their children, taking that as proof that this is not haram. The fourth major school, the Hanbali mathab, feels that this hadith is a legal ordinance, and invalidates preferential gifts absent certain valid reasons. However, some situations constitute valid reasons. For example, among the Hanbali exceptions which would make a preferential gift valid is if it is done for a justified reason such as a child who is in greater financial need, or one with special medical needs. In one source reviewing the matter, the authors who analyzed the issue of differential treatment in gifts (Are Parents Free to Bestow their Wealth onto their children? A Juristic Discourse on Equality and Justice in Hibah) said that Ibn Taymiyya, a major Hanbali scholar, considered it “permissible to favour one child over the others if the favoured child is pious but poor and in greater need of material support for the cause of good, compared to his siblings who are richer but less pious who would only squander their gifts in unlawful ways.”
This may be more than your question really asked about, but we thought it might be helpful to expand on the issue a bit. However, back to your question, there is no conflict for Muslims living in the U.S. to structure their estate planning in a manner that follows Islamic guidance.
In peace.
