Bismillāhi Raḥmāni Raḥīm
Date: 14th Rabbiu- Thānni, 1442 A. H /28th December, 2020
Subject: Al-Farā’id (The Islamic Law of Inheritance)
Lesson: 111
Topic: *Inheritance of Unborn child (Foetus/Fetus) under Islamic Law: Part 2*
Salām Alaykum Warahmatullāh Wabarakātuh,
Dear Participants,

In our last class, we defined who an unborn child is medically and religiously. We also made it clear that every legal human being conceived of halal marriage is eligible to inherit his or her relative as stipulated in Q4:7. However, there have been many legal conflicts and cases regarding property rights of an unborn child while the owner passes away before the birth of such a child.
Under Sharī‘ah, the Ḥanafī, Shāfi‘ī and Ḥanbalī Schools believed that the distribution of share is allowed after the shares of the unborn child are reserved based on all possible calculation (either as male or female). On the contrary, Māliki School is with the view that distribution of share be suspended until the child is born and his sex is determined. However, in the event the child is born alive but dies subsequently, then shares are distributed amongst his or her heirs.
Furthermore, some Muslim jurists opined that the inheritance can be distributed before the birth of the foetus, but the portion that should be kept for it is the maximum whether it is a male or female while in totality, the Maliki School stated that the inheritance cannot be distributed until the baby is born and his sex is determined.
All in all, majority of scholars believed in the following conditions that would legalise the inheritance of a fetus before he or she is allotted a portion from his or her deceased father‘s properties:
*i. The foetus is already present in its mother’s womb at the time of death of the father.*
*ii. The foetus is born alive even for a few seconds and shown signs of living such as crying, feeding, breathing, moving its limbs and so forth.*
It is absolutely ḥarām to deprive the unborn baby (who would have been an heir of the Mayyit-the deceased) from inheriting his or her biological father. On this, Al-Qurtubi was quoted in his Tafsīr to have said: “If a man dies and leaves behind his wife pregnant, then the inheritance should not be divided until it becomes clear what she gives birth to. The scholars had agreed in a consensus that if a man dies while his wife is pregnant, the child that is in her womb inherits and his relatives inherit from him if it is born alive and shouted or cried at the moment of birth”.

Insha Allah, we continue in the next class

Jazākumullāhu Khayran for reading today’s lesson.

*Yours in Islām*
*©Busari Muhammad Jamiu (Abū ‘Ᾱishah)*
*The Founder/Instructor*
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