A daughter's share in Islamic inheritance

"A daughter gets half of what a son gets" is the sentence most people know, and it is true only in one of the several positions a daughter can be in. In others she takes a fixed half of the entire estate, or shares two thirds with her sisters, and in some families she ends up with considerably more than that. This guide sets out every case with numbers. The calculator will do your own case directly.

The three positions

One daughter, no son: one half

A single daughter with no brother takes 1/2 of the estate as a fixed share, named in the Qur'an (4:11). She takes it before the residuary heirs get anything.

Two or more daughters, no son: two thirds shared

Two daughters or more, with no brother, share 2/3 between them equally. Two daughters take a third each; three take 2/9 each.

Daughters with a son: two to one

When a son survives, the daughters stop being fixed-share heirs. Together with their brothers they take whatever is left after the fixed shares, with each brother taking twice each sister's portion.

This is the case the familiar sentence describes — and note what it actually applies to. The two-to-one ratio is applied to the residue, not to the whole estate.

Worked examples

A daughter can take more than half the estate

A man dies leaving a wife, his mother and one daughter, with an estate of PKR 2,400,000.

The wife takes 1/8 = 300,000. The mother takes 1/6 = 400,000. The daughter takes 1/2 = 1,200,000. That is 21/24, leaving 3/24 with no residuary heir to claim it — so radd applies. The surplus returns to the mother and the daughter in proportion to their shares, and never to the wife.

The daughter receives nearly two thirds of the estate — not half of anything.

A daughter alone

If a woman's only heir is one daughter, the daughter's fixed half is followed by radd of the other half to her, and she takes the whole estate.

Daughters beside a son

A man leaves a wife, two sons and three daughters, with PKR 4,750,000 after debts. The wife takes 1/8. The residue of 7/8 is divided into seven parts — four for the two sons, three for the three daughters. Each son receives about PKR 1,187,500 and each daughter about PKR 593,750.

A daughter and the deceased's sister

A man leaves one daughter and one full sister. The daughter takes her fixed 1/2. The sister does not take her usual half — the presence of a daughter turns her into a residuary, so she takes what is left, which is also 1/2. Many families assume the sister is excluded by the daughter. She is not.

What about a son's daughter?

If a son died before his father, that son's daughter can still inherit. Where there is no son and no daughter, she stands in a daughter's place and takes the half or the two thirds. Where there is exactly one daughter, the son's daughters share 1/6 — the sixth that completes the two thirds reserved for female descendants. Where there are two or more daughters, she is excluded, unless a son's son of her own level is present to make her a residuary.

In Pakistan there is a further rule that changes this substantially. Under section 4 of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961, the children of a son or daughter who died before the deceased take the share their parent would have taken. The calculator offers this as a separate option, because it is statute rather than fiqh.

Common questions

Can a father leave everything to his daughter by will?

No. A bequest is capped at one third of the estate and normally cannot go to someone who is already an heir. A daughter inherits by right, not by permission, and that right cannot be enlarged by a will without the other heirs' consent after death.

Can a daughter be cut out of the estate?

No. Her share is fixed by text. Property genuinely given away during the owner's lifetime is a different matter, and gifts made specifically to deprive an heir are contested ground — take that to a scholar.

Does a married daughter still inherit?

Yes. Marriage makes no difference to a daughter's share.

Work out your own case, or read about the wife's share and how radd works.