Skip to content
ToolShelf

Islamic inheritance calculator

Work out the shares of an estate for a defined set of heirs, including `awl and radd, with every share explained and a clear refusal where the case is beyond it.

Who survived

Counts of each. Leave anyone who did not survive at zero.

Only if the deceased was a woman

Co-wives share one portion between them

Same father and mother. Half-siblings are not supported.

Same father and mother

Anyone else?

These relatives are outside what this tool can work out. Answering yes stops it rather than producing a figure that would be wrong.

Any grandparent
Any grandchild
Any half-brother or half-sister
Uncles, aunts, nephews or nieces

The estate

Optional. The shares are worked out either way

Capped at a third of what remains after debts

Add the surviving relatives and the shares appear here. Nothing is worked out until there is at least one heir.

What this tool is, stated plainly

It works out the shares of an estate for a limited set of heirs, applying the rules set out below. It is an arithmetic aid. It is not a religious ruling, it is not legal advice, and it has no standing anywhere.

A real estate should be settled with someone qualified in Islamic inheritance and with a lawyer in the jurisdiction the property sits in. That is not a disclaimer bolted on the end: succession law, jointly held property, nominated beneficiaries and differences of religion between heirs all bear on the outcome, and none of them appear here.

The heirs it covers, and the ones it refuses

It handles a husband or wives, the father, the mother, sons, daughters, full brothers and full sisters. Between them those cover a great many estates.

It does not handle grandparents, grandchildren, half-siblings on either side, or uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces. Where any of those survive, the tool stops and says so rather than producing a number. That is deliberate: the grandfather’s position alongside siblings is a long-standing disagreement between Abu Bakr and Zayd ibn Thabit, and maternal half-siblings follow a rule of their own. Guessing at them would be confidently wrong in exactly the cases where being wrong costs most.

The order things happen in

Funeral expenses and debts come off the estate first. Bequests are then paid from what remains, limited to a third of it, the tool caps an over-large bequest at that third and tells you it has. Only what is left after all three is divided by the shares.

Fixed shares, then the residue

Certain heirs have a stated fraction: a husband a half or a quarter, a wife a quarter or an eighth, the mother a third or a sixth, the father a sixth, daughters a half or two thirds between them. Whatever is left after those goes to the residuary: the sons if there are any, otherwise the father, otherwise the full siblings.

Two adjustments follow from that. If the fixed shares come to more than the whole, every share is reduced in proportion; this is ‘awl, and it is commoner than people expect. If they come to less and nobody is entitled to the remainder, it returns to the fixed-share heirs in proportion; this is radd, and on the majority view a spouse is excluded from it.

Two rules worth knowing about

The Umariyyatan: where the only heirs are a spouse, the mother and the father, the mother takes a third of what remains after the spouse rather than a third of the whole. The father ends with twice her share. This is the rule most often missing from inheritance calculators, and it is applied here.

Siblings and the mother: two or more surviving siblings reduce the mother from a third to a sixth, and they do so even when they are themselves blocked from inheriting by the father. That is the majority view and the tool follows it. It is the kind of detail that makes a hand calculation go astray.

Every share comes with its reason

The result gives each heir a fraction, an amount, and a line saying how that share was arrived at, including for anyone blocked, who is listed with what blocked them rather than quietly omitted. A number you cannot check is a number you have no reason to believe, and that goes double here.

Questions

Can I use this to settle a real estate?
Not on its own. It works out the shares for a limited set of heirs under positions that are set out in full on this page, and it is an arithmetic aid rather than a ruling. A real estate needs someone qualified in Islamic inheritance and a lawyer in the jurisdiction the property sits in. Local succession law, property held jointly or in trust, and differences of religion between heirs can all change the outcome and none of them are modelled here.
Which relatives does it handle?
A husband or wives, the father, the mother, sons, daughters, full brothers and full sisters. That covers a great many estates. It does not handle grandparents, grandchildren, half-siblings on either side, or uncles, aunts, nephews and nieces, and it tells you so rather than guessing.
Why does it refuse when there is a grandfather or a half-sibling?
Because those cases are genuinely harder and getting them wrong matters. The grandfather's position alongside siblings is a long-standing disagreement between Abu Bakr and Zayd ibn Thabit, and maternal half-siblings follow a rule of their own. A tool that produced a confident number for them would be misleading precisely where the stakes are highest.
What is `awl?
When the fixed shares add up to more than the whole estate. It happens more often than people expect, a husband taking a half alongside two full sisters taking two thirds already comes to seven sixths. The established response is to reduce every share in the same proportion, which is what the tool does, and it tells you when it has.
What is radd?
The opposite case: the fixed shares come to less than the whole and nobody is entitled to the remainder. It is returned to the fixed-share heirs in proportion to what they already hold. On the majority view a spouse is excluded from that return, which is the position taken here. Where a spouse is the only heir the tool reports the remainder as unallocated rather than handing it over.
What are the Umariyyatan?
Two cases, a husband, a mother and a father, or a wife, a mother and a father, in which the mother takes a third of what remains after the spouse's share rather than a third of the whole estate. The effect is that the father ends with twice the mother. It is the position attributed to Umar and held by the majority, and it is the rule most often missing from inheritance calculators.
Why does the tool ask about debts and bequests?
Because they come off first. Funeral expenses and debts are settled from the estate, then bequests are paid from what remains, limited to a third of it. Only what is left is divided by the shares. The tool applies that order and caps an over-large bequest at the third, telling you when it has done so.

More tools

Muslim tools

Sadaqah goal calculator

A giving target you can keep to

£1,200 a year£100 a month, £23.08 a week
Muslim tools

Sadaqah planner

Split your giving across causes

£300 split 3:2:1£150, £100 and £50
Muslim tools

Aqeeqah planner

The seventh day, and what it costs

Born 21 September 20267th day: 27 September