Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

dear brother,

i am married for a long time. i dont have any children. i wanted to know as a wife and daughter-in-law do i have any HAQ on my husbands property?

please help me with my question as soon as possible.

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Right on husband's property

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Dear and beloved Sister in Islam, as long as your husband is alive, your husband remains the owner and master of his property and his wealth; and you have absolutely no right upon his property and wealth, except the liberty your husband himself allows and permits you.

Similarly, if you have wealth of your own, you are the owner and master of your properties; and as long as you are alive, your husband has absolutely no right upon the properties owned by you….unless of-course the liberty you allow or permit him.

But if your husband were do die, you as a wife will be considered a legal heir to your husband’s property and wealth in Shariah Law; and if you have no children from the marriage, your prescribed share would be 1/4^th or 25% of the properties and wealth left behind by your husband, after the fulfillment of his debts and/or his will, if any.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 4 Surah Nisaa verses 12-14:

12 In what your wives leave your share is a half if they leave no child; but if they leave a child ye get a fourth; after payment of legacies and debts. In what ye (husbands) leave their (the wife’s) share is a fourth if ye leave no child; but if ye leave a child they get an eighth; after payment of legacies and debts. If the man or woman whose inheritance is in question has left neither ascendants nor descendants but has left a brother or a sister each one of the two gets a sixth; but if more than two they share in a third; after payment of legacies and debts; so that no loss is caused (to anyone). Thus is it ordained by Allah and Allah is All-Knowing Most Forbearing.

13 Those are limits set by Allah: those who obey Allah and His Messenger will be admitted to Gardens with rivers flowing beneath to abide therein (for ever) and that will be the Supreme Achievement.

14 But those who disobey Allah and His Messenger and transgress His limits will be admitted to a Fire to abide therein: and they shall have a humiliating punishment.

A daughter-in-law is not a legal heir of her husband’s father or father-in-law in the Sight of Shariah Law; thus if the father-in-law were to die, the daughter-in-law would not be entitled to receive anything from the wealth left behind by her father-in-law.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan