Brother and sister share in Islamic inheritance: who gets what, and when nothing

Siblings are where most family disputes start, for two reasons. The first is that "brother" covers three entirely different heirs who inherit on different rules. The second is that a single son, or a living father, removes all of them at once. Enter the actual family in the calculator and it will name who is excluded and by whom.

Three kinds of sibling

Writing "two brothers" on a piece of paper is not enough. Two full brothers and two paternal half-brothers produce different answers, and a maternal half-brother is a different heir again.

Who removes them

All siblings, of every kind, are excluded by:

• A son, or a son's son
• The father

Maternal half-siblings are excluded by more than that: any child at all, including a daughter, and also the grandfather.

So in the very common case of a man leaving a wife, children and brothers, the brothers take nothing whatsoever — and this is the single most frequent source of surprise in a Pakistani estate.

Full sisters

With no child, no father and no full brother:

• One full sister takes 1/2
• Two or more share 2/3

With a full brother present they stop being fixed-share heirs and take the residue with him, two to one.

There is a third position people rarely expect. A daughter turns a sister into a residuary. A man leaving one daughter and one full sister: the daughter takes her fixed half, and the sister takes what remains — also a half. Many families assume the daughter excludes the aunt. She does not.

Maternal half-siblings: the one equal share in the system

From the Qur'an, 4:12: a single maternal half-sibling takes 1/6; two or more share 1/3 — and they divide it equally, a brother and a sister taking exactly the same.

This is the only place in Faraid where the two-to-one ratio does not apply, and it is worth knowing precisely because it contradicts what most people assume the system always does.

Worked example

A woman dies leaving her husband, two maternal half-brothers and one full brother. The estate is PKR 1,200,000.

Add her mother to that family and something unexpected happens. The mother takes a sixth, and the fixed shares now consume the whole estate — leaving the full brother, a residuary, with nothing. This is the case called al-Mushtaraka, and the schools split on it: the Hanafi and Hanbali schools leave him with nothing, while the Maliki and Shafi'i schools let him share the maternal siblings' third. The calculator shows every position side by side.

Paternal half-siblings

They inherit like full siblings, but stand behind them. A full brother excludes them entirely. Two full sisters, having taken the whole two thirds, exclude a paternal half-sister — unless she has a brother of her own to make her a residuary. Where exactly one full sister survives, the paternal half-sisters take 1/6, completing the two thirds.

Common questions

My father left children — do his brothers get anything?

If he left a son, no. If he left only daughters, the brothers may take the residue after the daughters' two thirds — so the answer depends on whether any son survived.

Are step-siblings included?

Only if you share a parent. A step-sibling with no parent in common is not an heir, and has no share.

Does a sister who is financially comfortable still inherit?

Yes. Need plays no part in the calculation, and her share is hers to give away afterwards if she chooses.

Work out your own case, or read who is excluded from Islamic inheritance.