In this 376-page publication, Abdurraghiem Hasan Sallie provides an insight into the laws pertaining to Inheritance in Islam. Using and translating prepared works by Dr Taha Abdul Aziz Abu al Fadl, an Al-Azhar University professor and one of his teachers, the author not only expounds upon how the shares of inheritance are calculated and allocated but also how those very same laws are compared in relation to other belief systems.

Sketching a background to Islam’s position on the subject, Sallie takes the reader through inheritance laws before the advent of Islam, under the Egyptians, the ancient Greeks, and Romans and in parts of Europe as well as Russia.

For the Muslim reader, he details the laws and ramifications of inheritance according to the four major schools of thought (Madha-hib). Amongst the detail provided in this book is the inheritance of the unborn child as well as the Quranic texts on determining the shortest period of pregnancy, the decree of the inheritance of a missing person as well as that of the illegitimate child. The distinction between the inheritance of a woman and man has valid reasons, according to the Shariah (Islamic law), which is clarified in the book. The compulsory stipulated shares as explained in the Qur’an are diagrammatically explained by way of examples.

This book is certified and endorsed by the Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.

Excerpt

“If we compare the system of inheritance in Islam with that of other religions on earth, then any honest investigator will come to one conclusion – that the method advanced by Islam has no comparison in its justice and precision. It had no equal before the advent of Islam and neither will it have an equal amongst the most intelligent and advanced communities.”