How Islamic Inheritance Works in Pakistan: A Plain-Language Guide to Faraid

Islamic inheritance law — known as Faraid or Mirath — is one of the most detailed and mathematically precise areas of Islamic jurisprudence. Unlike a will-based system where the deceased freely chooses who inherits what, Faraid assigns specific, largely non-negotiable shares to a defined set of relatives, based on rules laid out directly in the Quran and elaborated by centuries of Islamic legal scholarship.

Two categories of heirs

Faraid heirs fall into two broad categories. Ashab al-Furud (fixed-share heirs) receive a specific fraction of the estate set by the Quran itself — a spouse, for example, receives either 1/4 or 1/8 (if a husband) or 1/2 or 1/4 (if a wife), depending on whether the deceased left children. Asaba (residuary heirs) — typically sons, and in their absence fathers or brothers — inherit whatever remains after the fixed-share heirs have taken their portions, sometimes absorbing the entire estate if no fixed-share heir exists.

The order of operations matters

Before any inheritance is calculated, the estate goes through a specific sequence: funeral expenses are paid first, then any outstanding debts, then a valid bequest (capped at one-third of what remains, and only to someone who isn't already an heir) — only after all three is the remainder actually distributed according to Faraid.

Why the same relative can get different shares

A common source of confusion: a mother's share isn't fixed at one number. She receives 1/6 if the deceased left a child, or if two or more siblings of the deceased survive — but 1/3 in simpler cases with neither. A father can receive a fixed 1/6, a fixed 1/6 plus the residue, or the entire residue with no fixed component at all, depending entirely on which other relatives survive. This is the norm throughout the system, not an exception.

'Awl and Radd: when the arithmetic doesn't balance

Two classical mechanisms handle cases where the numbers don't neatly work out. 'Awl applies when fixed shares add up to more than the whole estate — every heir's share is proportionally reduced so the total still equals exactly 100%. Radd is the opposite: when fixed shares don't use up the whole estate and no residuary heir exists, the leftover is returned proportionally to the fixed-share heirs (with a surviving spouse typically excluded from this specific step in Hanafi fiqh).

This is genuinely complex — and that's the point of a calculator

Between exclusion rules (where one heir's presence can eliminate another's entitlement entirely), the residuary priority order, and special named cases like Al-Umariyyatan, hand-calculating a real family's Faraid distribution is genuinely error-prone even for someone who understands the rules. Our Islamic Inheritance Calculator applies the classical Hanafi rules — the majority school in Pakistan — and shows exactly which rule produced each heir's share, so the result is auditable rather than a black box.

This is informational, not a legal or religious ruling

For an actual estate, always consult a qualified Islamic scholar for the religious ruling and a lawyer for the legal distribution process under Pakistani succession law.

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