Followers of Two Different Religions Cannot Inherit from One Another
Written by: Imran Ayub Lahori
❖ Principle
A Muslim cannot inherit from a disbeliever, nor can a disbeliever inherit from a Muslim. Similarly, people of different religions cannot inherit from each other.
❖ Evidences
① Narration of ʿAbdullāh bin ʿAmr (RA):
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
لا يتوارث أهل ملتين شتى
“The followers of two different religions cannot inherit from one another.”
[Ṣaḥīḥ: Irwā’ al-Ghalīl: 6/120–121; Abū Dāwūd: 2911, Kitāb al-Farā’iḍ: Bāb Hal Yarith al-Muslim al-Kāfir; Aḥmad: 2/178; Nasā’ī: 4/82; Ibn Mājah: 2731; Dāraquṭnī: 4/75; Tirmidhī: 2108; Talkhīṣ al-Ḥabīr: 3/184]
② Narration of Usāmah (RA):
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
لا يرث المسلم الكافر ولا الكافر المسلم
“A Muslim cannot inherit from a disbeliever, nor can a disbeliever inherit from a Muslim.”
[Bukhārī: 6764, Kitāb al-Farā’iḍ: Bāb Lā Yarith al-Muslim al-Kāfir; Muslim: 1614; Muwaṭṭa’: 2/519; Ṭayālisī: 1/283; Aḥmad: 5/200; Dārimī: 2/370; Abū Dāwūd: 2909; Tirmidhī: 2107; Ibn Mājah: 2729; Dāraquṭnī: 4/79; Bayhaqī: 6/217; Ḥumaydī: 1/248; Saʿīd bin Manṣūr: 1/184; ʿAbd al-Razzāq: 6/14; Musnad al-Shāfiʿī: 2/190]
❖ Scholarly Consensus and Discussion
- The Imāms are unanimous that a Muslim cannot inherit from a disbeliever and a disbeliever cannot inherit from a Muslim.
- Imām Aḥmad (رحمه الله) stated: A Muslim can inherit from his freed slave if the slave was a disbeliever, because the ḥadīth says:
«الولاء لمن أعتق»
“Al-Walā’ (the right of inheritance of a freed slave) belongs to the one who freed him.”
[al-Fiqh al-Islāmī wa Adillatuhu: 10/7719; al-Mughnī: 6/348]
❖ Broader Scope of the Ḥadīth
- Scholars have differed whether “followers of two religions” refers only to Muslims and disbelievers, or if it also applies to disbelievers of different faiths.
- The apparent meaning of the narration of ʿAbdullāh bin ʿAmr (RA) indicates that inheritance is prevented between disbelievers of different religions as well.
[al-Rawḍah al-Nadiyyah: 2/706]
