Special cases in succession

The killer, excluded from succession

Agreement of the scholars: voluntary killing deprives of inheritance: "the killer does not inherit", word of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). The wisdom: inheritance requires the continuity of affection, and the killer breaks it; allowing his inheritance would open the door to crimes hastening a succession. The accidental and quasi-deliberate killer: agreement of the scholars that he takes nothing of his victim's diya; the disagreement bears on the rest of her estate.

Difference of religion and succession

Agreement of the jurists: the non-Muslim does not inherit from the Muslim, and the Muslim does not inherit from the non-Muslim: "the Muslim does not inherit from the disbeliever, nor the disbeliever from the Muslim" (al-Bukhari 6383 ; Muslim 1614); the non-Muslim wife of a Muslim is in this case. For the Muslim heir of a disbeliever: two views; the majority of the scholars and Companions (Umar, Ali, Zayd, Ibn Masud, Ibn Abbas; Malik, Abu Hanifa, ash-Shafi'i, Ahmad) forbid it, a second view allows it. The one who converts after the death of his Muslim relative and before the division: the majority (Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, Abu Hanifa, Malik, ash-Shafi'i and most of the jurists): he does not inherit, the estate having already passed to the Muslim heirs; one narration from Ahmad makes him inherit. The apostate does not inherit from his Muslim relative (agreement of the scholars). Among non-Muslims, inheritance passes among them even if their religions differ: the hadith "people of two religions do not succeed each other" is explained by the pair Islam and disbelief (Ibn Taymiyya).

The child to be born in succession

Agreement of the scholars: the child in his mother's womb inherits and is inherited if born alive and uttering his first cry: "When the newborn utters his first cry, he inherits" (reported from Abu Hurayra); "When the child utters his first cry, prayer is performed over him and he inherits" (reported from Jabir). The estate is suspended: if the child excludes all the others (brothers, sisters, uncles and their children), the whole waits for the birth; if he only reduces the shares (husband, wife), the spouses receive the smaller of the two possible shares and the rest waits.

The missing and the captive in succession

Agreement of the four schools: disappearance in an absence whose apparent outcome is safety (travel, studies, captivity among those who do not kill) does not presume death: his share waits. The waiting period divides: Hanbalis and Ibn Majishun among the Malikis wait up to ninety years since birth; the other schools hold different periods.

The hermaphrodite in succession

The khuntha shows both organs, or one single passage; when the sex cannot be settled, the jurists examine through which way he urinates: the predominant way fixes his rank, and the classification then follows the rules of men or women.

Practical note on special cases in succession

These edge cases call for caution: suspend, wait, document. The succession is never rushed at the expense of a possible right.