A son's share in Islamic inheritance

Unlike a daughter, a wife or a mother, a son has no fixed fraction. There is no verse giving him a half or a third. He is a residuary — he takes whatever remains after the fixed shares have been paid, which in one estate is seven eighths and in another is almost nothing. Enter your own heirs in the calculator to see which.

How a son actually inherits

The order is always the same. First the deductions — funeral expenses, debts, a bequest of up to one third. Then the fixed shares to those the Qur'an names: the widow, the parents, sometimes a daughter. Whatever is left over goes to the nearest class of residuary heirs, and a son is the very first of them.

Being first in that order is what makes a son powerful in this system, more than any fraction would. He excludes the deceased's brothers, sisters, nephews, uncles and cousins completely. He reduces the widow from a quarter to an eighth and the mother from a third to a sixth. And he holds the father to a bare sixth.

Worked example: a son takes seven eighths

A man dies leaving one wife and one son, with PKR 4,000,000 after debts.

Worked example: a son takes a quarter

Same estate, but now the deceased also leaves his father, his mother, and three daughters alongside the son.

The wife takes 1/8, the father 1/6 and the mother 1/6 — that is 3/24 + 4/24 + 4/24 = 11/24. The remaining 13/24 goes to the children two to one: one son counts as two shares, three daughters as three, five in total.

The son's share fell from seven eighths to a little over a fifth, without any rule about sons changing. That is what being a residuary means.

Two to one, and what it is applied to

Where sons and daughters inherit together, each son takes twice each daughter's portion. Note carefully what that ratio is applied to: the residue, after the fixed shares, not the whole estate. In the example above the daughters between them took more than the son did.

When there is no son

If a son died before his father, his own son — the deceased's grandson — steps into the same place, provided no living son of the deceased survives. A living son excludes him under the classical rules. In Pakistan, section 4 of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961 changes this and gives the predeceased son's family a share; the calculator offers that as a separate option, and the main guide explains the background.

Common questions

Can a father give his son more by writing a will?

Not straightforwardly. A bequest is capped at one third and normally cannot go to someone who is already an heir. The remaining heirs can consent after death, but it cannot be imposed on them.

Does an adopted son inherit?

Not as a son, because the tie that creates inheritance is lineage. Provision can be made through the one-third bequest, which is exactly what it exists for.

Does a son who cared for his parents get more?

No. Faraid does not weigh conduct. What such a son may have is a claim as a creditor if there was a genuine debt, and debts are paid before any heir inherits.

Why did my brother's share come out smaller than mine?

If you are both sons, it should not — sons share the residue equally. If one of you is a half-brother through the father, a full brother excludes him. See who is excluded.

Calculate a son's share, or read about the daughter's share.