Fear God in this sensitive matter
It is quite saddening to hear, sometimes so soon, after the death of a wealthy individual or a person with some moderate stretch of estates that his heirs are fighting or in court over the sharing of the property of inheritance. No disappointment can be more worrisome to a deceased in his grave than his […]
It is quite saddening to hear, sometimes so soon, after the death of a wealthy individual or a person with some moderate stretch of estates that his heirs are fighting or in court over the sharing of the property of inheritance. No disappointment can be more worrisome to a deceased in his grave than his heirs spending much of the time, energy and means (that could have been utilized in seeking God’s forgiveness for him) on squabbles over inheritance. A related story in the media recently caught my attention, and thus, informed the title of today’s discourse.
The Sunday October 23, 2016 edition of Daily Trustreported that the family of late Prince AbubakarAudu, a former governor of Kogi State, is at war over inheritance. Prince Audu died leaving behind two wives, a daughter and eight sons. The newspaper reported that Fatima’s counsel had applied to the Grand Qadi of the Sharia’ah Court of Appeal in Abuja to join Fatima in the distribution of the estate of late AbubakarAudu. This applicationby the counsel suggests that his client was, perhaps, excluded from benefitting as an heir from the inheritance. No human authority can exclude any person from inheritance as long as the designation of such a personhas been mentioned as an heir in the holy Qur’an.
There are eight primary heirs namely father, mother, husband, wife, daughter, full sister, uterine brother and uterine sister, whose fixed shares of inheritance are mentioned in the Qur’an. The heirs who could at times be excluded, partially or completely, depending on the presence of other heirs are called secondary heirs. They are: grandmother, consanguine sister, paternal grandfather, and maternal grandfather. Qur’an 4:11 states the shares due to each heir. They are in the fraction of 1/2, 1/4,1/6, 1/8and 2/3 depending on the relationship of each heir. It is because of the sensitivity of the matter that Allah (SWT) categorically mentions these fixed shares.
Disputes arise in inheritance matters for several reasons.Sometimes they are caused by surviving wives of the deceased who mislead and incite their children against one another. What a self-destructive element and a show of crass materialism! At other times, too, you could find a surviving wife or son or daughter or brother or uncle conniving with judicial officers to wrongly administer a deceased’s estate so that a particular heir or group of heirs is favoured to the disadvantage of others. Heirs as mothers or wives or siblings or uncles should all fear Allah (SWT) in the way they go about a property that would later become an estate for others to inherit.
Nothing sets family members on a disastrous warpath faster than a mishandled inheritance procedure particularly when Allah’s injunctions onthe sharing principle are jettisoned to allow greed and sentiments to prevail. Although Allah (SWT) has mentioned the specific fraction of the estate for each heir, the attempt to manipulate the fractions so that one heir could get higher or lower than the value of the fraction due to him or her is usually an invitation to nastyrows. There will also be problems if some of the assets are wrongly valued (undervalued or overvalued) to favour some heirs. The hypocrisy and betrayalof non-heirs (who could be close or distant relations, confidants or associates of the deceased) in setting one or some heirs up against others could equally ignite anall-out anger of furry in a once united family.
Theft would be too complimentary to define the act of converting a deceased person’s property in to personal ownership. Many people, sometimes out of absolute confidence, entrust their businesses, landed property including the certificate of occupancy, bank documents, farms or farm lands,and herds of cattle, to persons other than their family members or close relations.I have heard of cases in which such persons that were entrusted by the deceased, while alive, with wealth and properties, shamelessly and scandalously betrayed the trust; unapologetically laying personal claim to thingsthat do not by right or law belong to them. In most cases, such betrayers who should be protectors of the interest and assets of the deceased (and whoare most often not heirs to the deceased)take undue advantage of the demise of the deceased to abuse the confidence earlier reposed in them before his death. Subhana-llah!
There have been reported cases in which judges and/or judicial officers compromised their conscience and oath of office to become an accomplice in the mis-administration, concealment, diversion or misappropriationof a property of inheritance. I once heard of a case in which a state government in the northern part of Nigeria had to intervene before a group of heirs could get their shares of cashpaid to them because the Shari’ah Court of Appeal which earlier ordered the court registrar to lodge the money in a bank account did not have the money when the heirs were asking for it.
Like a confidant who betrayed the trust of a deceased, judges who conspire to do otherwise with a property of inheritance should fear God and avoid taking possession of what does not belong to them. Allah (SWT) admonishes in Qur’an 4:10 that ‘Let those (disposing of an estate) have the same fear in their minds as they would have for their own if they had left a helpless family behind; Let them fear Allah…’. Qur’an 4:10 warns that those who unjustly eat up the property of orphans eat up fire in to their own bodies…” May Allah (SWT) guide us to fear His wrath and handle inheritance matters equitably, amin.