Q. A person died, leaving behind his wife, both parents and two daughters. According to the rules of distributing inheritance, their shares are more than the total estate. How do we solve this problem?
A. Kasagrod
A. There are cases where the shares given to heirs may total more than the estate. They have a simple solution, which is a proportionate reduction of all shares. How does this work in this case?
According to the Islamic system of inheritance, the man’s widow takes one-eighth, while each of his parents takes one-sixth. The two daughters take one-third each. To work out this case and give each of the heirs their respective dues, the total estate should be divided into 24 shares, giving three shares to the man’s widow, four to each of his parents, and eight each to his daughters. These shares total 27. They cannot be taken out of 24. Therefore, we divide the estate into 27 shares instead of 24 and give each of the heirs the shares mentioned above, i.e. 3 out of 27 to the wife, 4 out of 27 to each of the parents and 8 out of 27 to each daughter. This is known in the Islamic system of inheritance as awl.
Seeing the Prophet in Dreams
Q. We know that Satan cannot appear in the Prophet’s form in our dreams. What prevents Satan from appearing as an ordinary man and saying that he is the Prophet?
Y. Alvi
A. This does not happen either, because God has barred Satan from impersonating the Prophet (peace be upon him) in any way. People who saw the Prophet in their dreams give different descriptions of him, according to the clarity of their visions. Normally he tells them certain things related to the religion of Islam, or to their own situations, and they are informed in the dream that they are talking to the Prophet. What he tells them is both precise and concise. They wake up with a sense of delight. This cannot happen if they see Satan in their dreams.
Divorce and Khula’
Q. If during an angry dispute a man says to his wife that she is divorced, then regrets that a short while later and resumes his marital relationship with his wife, does this count as one divorce? Can a man divorce his wife three times on the same occasion by pronouncing the word of divorce three times? If a marriage is terminated by khula’, can the couple remarry?
A. Hussain
A. People always ask these questions. A divorce during an angry dispute does take place unless when he says it, the man is not aware of what he is saying. He has no intention to divorce his wife, but he says it unaware of what it means. If he is aware of the significance of his words, the divorce takes place and counts as one divorce. The marriage can be re-instated by the couple, provided that this is the first or second divorce. If such resumption of the marriage is done within the woman’s waiting period, there is no need for a new marriage contract. If the waiting period has lapsed, reinstating the marriage requires a new contract, with a new dowry to be paid by the husband to his wife. She may want to impose a large dowry in order to scare her husband from ever trying to divorce her again.
Pronouncing the divorce word three times or more on the same occasion is counted as one divorce, according to authentic Sunnah. It should be remembered that to do so is forbidden. One cannot divorce his wife three times on the same occasion.
Termination of the marriage at the request of the wife, i.e. khula‘, does not block the possibility of the couple being reunited in marriage again. However, they need to go through a new marriage process, having a new marriage contract. The wife is entitled to receive a dowry as her undeniable right.