Causes & Impediments

**Three Causes of Inheritance:** **1. Marriage (النكاح):** A valid marriage contract with witnesses and guardian, even without consummation or seclusion. - **Evidence:** Allah's general statement: "And for you is half of what your wives leave" [An-Nisa: 12] **2. Lineage (النسب):** Blood relationship to the deceased - the organic connection between people through near or distant birth. - **Includes:** Ancestors (آباء), Descendants (فروع), and Collaterals (حواشي) - **Ancestors:** Fathers and grandfathers through pure males - **Descendants:** Children and grandchildren through sons - **Collaterals:** Brothers and their sons, paternal uncles and their sons **3. Wala' (الولاء):** A bond caused by the emancipator's favor to his slave through freeing. The freed person does not inherit from his emancipator by consensus. *Thus, causes of inheritance are effectively two: Lineage and Valid Marriage.* --- **Three Impediments to Inheritance:** **1. Killing:** Scholars agree that intentional prohibited killing prevents inheritance. Whoever kills his inheritor unjustly does not inherit from him. - **Evidence:** The Prophet ﷺ said: "The killer has no share of the inheritance" [Daraqutni, Bayhaqi - sahih by Albani] **2. Slavery:** A slave does not inherit from his relative - because if he inherits, it goes to his master, not him. Likewise, he is not inherited from, as he owns nothing. **3. Difference of Religion:** Religious difference between the deceased and heir prevents inheritance. - **Evidence:** The Prophet ﷺ said: "A disbeliever does not inherit from a Muslim, nor does a Muslim inherit from a disbeliever" [Muslim]