Inheritance in Shia Law

Sunni and Shia laws of inheritance are different in their foundational structure as
well as detailed implications, though the both are inspired from the Quranic verses
of inheritance. Owing to the fact that Sunnis are in majority in Pakistan, their law of
inheritance is relatively well appreciated by lawyers and students of law, while Shia
law of inheritance does not have such an advantage. The paper aims to present in a
simplified manner the salient features of Shia law of inheritance so that the same
may become comprehensible to anyone who is new to this field but interested to
develop his skills further. The paper does not explain Sunni law of inheritance in
detail and assumes that the reader would be conversant with it. While explaining the
salient features of Shia law, it compares them with corresponding features of Sunni
law. The paper illustrates how these features are instrumental in conferring different
shares to legal heirs in Shia and Sunni schemes of inheritance. There is also an
elaboration of the space which is shared by the both legally different traditions of
inheritance in Islam.

It is familiar in scholarship on Islam that the most striking difference between Sunni
and Shia legal systems is their distinct laws of inheritance.

1 These differences are so
deep rooted that it is near impossible to bridge them. It does not mean that there is no
space which is characterized by similarity. At least there are quite a few spaces
where these different legal traditions rely on the same types of shares and suggest the
same sort of solutions to practical problems. Taking into account their distinct
structures, it is an uphill task to explain them within one scheme of elaboration. This
appears to be the reason that the authors on the subject have dealt with the both
systems of inheritance in different chapters rather than attempting to ponder upon
them in the same chapter.

Many Scholars have written on Shia and Sunni laws of inheritance, but they
have either concentrated on the latter law or have not allocated appropriate space to
elaboration of the former’s principles and their comparison with the latter’s law. For instance, one of the most renowned authors in the Muslim world on the subject Al-Sabooni in his book has restricted his analysis to Sunni law only. Pakistani lawyer of distinction has spared one chapter to discussion of Shia law of inheritance. Lucy Carroll wrote two articles one each on Shia law and Sunni law of inheritance.
Though there are comparative insights in the above academic works, there is a need to present the comparative analysis holistically as well as in the simplest manner.

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