The Wisdom Behind the Shares

The Quran says people cannot know which of their relatives will benefit them most, and it sets the shares itself:

"˹Be fair to˺ your parents and children, as you do not ˹fully˺ know who is more beneficial to you. ˹This is˺ an obligation from Allah. Surely Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise."

After the shares, the Quran calls them “the limits set by Allah” - Qur'an 4:13, The Clear Quran (Dr. Mustafa Khattab), as on quran.com.

Ibn Kathir, in his commentary on Quran 4:7, writes of the people before Islam:

Sa`id bin Jubayr and Qatadah said, "The idolators used to give adult men a share of inheritance and deprive women and children of it."

Quran 4:7 answers this: “For men there is a share in what their parents and close relatives leave, and for women there is a share in what their parents and close relatives leave—whether it is little or much. ˹These are˺ obligatory shares.” - Qur'an 4:7, The Clear Quran (Dr. Mustafa Khattab), as on quran.com.

A hadith records a case. A woman of the Ansar brought her two daughters to the Prophet ﷺ. Their father had been killed at Uhud and their paternal uncle had taken all their property. After the verses on inheritance were revealed, the Prophet ﷺ told the uncle: "Give them two-thirds and their mother an eighth, and what remains is yours." (Sunan Abi Dawud 2891 (grade on sunnah.com: Hasan, al-Albani), sunnah.com English translation.)

Ibn Abbas also reported that before Quran 4:19, a man's relatives could inherit his widow and decide whether she married. The verse forbade it. (Sahih al-Bukhari 4579.)

The scholars we read give the same reason: the financial responsibility Islam places on men.

"The preference of the male over the female is because he is responsible for women in terms of providing for them and other aspects."

"in Islam a woman generally has very little or no financial obligation and the economical responsibility lies on the shoulders of the man."

Maulana Dhorat gives an example. If a man leaves 150,000 to a son and a daughter, the son receives 100,000 and the daughter 50,000. The son then has to spend about 80,000 on supporting his family, leaving him about 20,000 for himself, while the daughter keeps her full 50,000 with no such obligation.

Islam Q&A cites Quran 4:34, which reads: “Men are the caretakers of women, as men have been provisioned by Allah over women and tasked with supporting them financially. And righteous women are devoutly obedient and, when alone, protective of what Allah has entrusted them with. And if you sense ill-conduct from your women, advise them ˹first˺, ˹if they persist,˺ do not share their beds, ˹but if they still persist,˺ then discipline them ˹gently˺. But if they change their ways, do not be unjust to them. Surely Allah is Most High, All-Great.” - Qur'an 4:34, The Clear Quran (Dr. Mustafa Khattab), as on quran.com.

No. The sources we read say her wealth is her own, and the husband's duty to maintain her does not depend on how wealthy either of them is.

"The basic principle concerning any wealth the wife owns is that it belongs to her and not to her husband, whether this wealth came into her possession by means of trade or business, or through inheritance, or as part of her mahr (dowry) or from the state."

"Upon him are her maintenance, clothing, and housing, considered according to both their circumstances, whether the husband is wealthy or poor.""A wife is not required to contribute to household expenses from her salary. Her wealth remains hers."

If a woman chooses to help with household costs, Islam Q&A says "this is a good deed on her part for which she will be rewarded. But it is not obligatory for her to do that, and it has no effect on her share of inheritance."

No. The Egyptian Dar al-Ifta, in a fatwa issued by Dr. Shawqi Allam, says the difference follows three factors and not gender: the strength of the relationship, the extension of the line, and financial responsibility. When the responsibility is the same, it says, the shares are equal.

Maulana Dhorat gives examples. When a deceased has no parent or child but leaves a brother and a sister from the same mother, each receives one-sixth, which is equal. When the parents inherit alongside children, the mother and the father each receive one-sixth. Shaykh Awad also lists cases in which a woman receives more than a man; his answer is linked below.

When Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas asked the Prophet ﷺ about giving away two-thirds or half of his wealth, the Prophet ﷺ answered, "Yes, one third, yet even one third is too much." and said that leaving heirs rich is better than leaving them poor, begging from people. (Sahih al-Bukhari 2742 (wording quoted); Sahih Muslim 1628, sunnah.com English translation.)

Ibn Kathir on Quran 4:12:

“payment of debts comes before fulfilling the will, and then comes the will, then the inheritance, and there is a consensus on this matter among the scholars.”

The Prophet ﷺ died in 632 CE (Encyclopaedia Britannica). By 632 CE Islam had already given women property and inheritance rights as described above. In contrast, in England, married women's property belonged to her husband until the Married Women's Property Acts of 1870 and 1882, as described by a University of Birmingham Law School blog: "Any personal property a woman owned, either through wages, investment, or inheritance, belonged to her husband upon marriage." The 1882 Act finally gave a married woman in England the right to hold property "as her separate property." Islam gave them that right more than twelve centuries earlier.