Islamic Fiqh > Inheritance and wasiya > Brothers and sisters as heirs
Germane, consanguine and uterine brothers and sisters: when they inherit, their Quranic shares, their role as agnates ('asaba), and the famous exception of the kalala sister.
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Updated on 06 October 2026 at 10:50 PM
They do not inherit with the son, nor the son of the son, nor with the father; they inherit with the daughters and the daughters of sons, becoming then agnates. The german sister alone: the half: "If a man dies leaving no child and he has a sister, she gets the half of what he leaves" (sura an-Nisa 176); 2 sisters or more: the 2 thirds; german brothers and sisters together: to the male the share of 2 females (agreement of the scholars).
She takes the half with 5 conditions: the 4 conditions of the german sister and the absence of a german brother or german sister. The verse of the kalala covers the german sister and the consanguine one by agreement of the scholars.
They take the sixth, alone or numerous: "if he has a brother or a sister by the mother, each of the 2 gets the sixth; if they are more numerous, they share the third" (sura an-Nisa 12): no agnation among them, the man there equals the woman, for they have no male way to raise them. They do not inherit with the father, the grandfather, nor with a child of the deceased.
Among the majority of the schools, the german and consanguine sisters become agnates with a daughter or a daughter of a son: they share the residue after the fixed shares, to the male the share of 2 females.
The siblings inherit only in the absence of the direct line: son, son of the son and father block the whole group; with the daughters, the sisters move from fixed-share rank to the agnate rank that completes the division.