Q: A woman died, leaving a husband, father, brothers, and sisters. She had given birth to a daughter, but she died before her mother did. She left a small sum of money and her heirs want to know the prescribed shares for each of them. Also, the deceased never performed the obligatory duty of Hajj and some of the heirs want to appoint someone to perform Hajj on her behalf, before distributing the prescribed shares of inheritance. Others disagree with this until they get a ruling on this and know the position of the Shari‘ah (Islamic law) on it. We are awaiting your reply.

A: If the reality is as you mentioned, and she had been able to perform Hajj during her lifetime, take sufficient to cover the expenses of someone performing Hajj and ‘Umrah on behalf of the deceased from her estate. If she was poor, she was not obligated to perform Hajj or ‘Umrah, so, with what she left, you should repay her debts from her estate, if she was indebted. Then you should execute her Shar‘y (Islamic) will, if she made a will, and the rest of the estate should be distributed among the heirs. (Part No. 11; Page No. 104) Her husband receives half of the estate and her father the remainder. The brothers and sisters receive nothing, as they are excluded from the inheritance by the father. Her daughter does not inherit, because she died before her mother, and one of the conditions for receiving inheritance is that the heir should be alive at the time of the death of the testator, which is lacking here.May Allah grant us success. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and Companions.