Muslim Personal Law

Ans: The wealth allocation under Muslim law is divided into four parts: 1. Funeral expenses. 2. Payment of debt. 3. Will upto 1/3. 4. Distribution among heirs.

Ans: Family tree: Family tree is connected with father through males and with husband through females. Primary Heirs: Surviving Spouse, Son, Daughter, Mother and Father. Mother and Father will be of deceased. 

Ans:  To understand the rule of Inheritance under Muslim law of Inheritance, let us take an illustration. If there are two brothers and one brother is connected to another brother via father, according to Muslim law of Inheritance if one brother gets expired, the another brother will not get the property of his brother until his father is alive because he was connected to his brother via his father. It is also applicable to other relations.

Ans:  Under Shia law, an illegitimate child can not inherit from any of the parents and from their relatives. Under sunni law, an illegitimate child can inherit from mother and her relations. Conditions of an illegitimate child: Where the marriage between natural father and mother of the child would not have taken place, 1. When the mother at the time of conception was married to someone else. 2. When father and mother were within prohibited degrees of relationship. 3. When father and mother could not have married each other validly. x

Ans: Exclusion of daughter: The daughter has the right of inheritance but the exclusion of daughter from Muslim law of Inheritance is when a custom or a statute excludes her from Inheritance.

Ans: According to Muslim law of Inheritance, only a Muslim can inherit from a Muslim. 1. If A has two sons and his one son gets converted into non Muslim faith, the son who gets converted into non-muslim faith will not inherit the property of his father . 2. If a person who is Muslim has two sons and the person gets converted into Non Muslim faith, his sons who are Muslim can not inherit his property because only a Muslim can inherit the property of Muslim. 3. If a person who was Hindu or of any religion gets converted into Muslim faith and his sons are non muslim,  his sons can not inherit his property because a muslim can inherit the property of muslim.

Ans: A person causing the death of another can not inherit his property by inheritance.  Shia Law: If the death was caused intentional. Sunni Law: Intention of person is irrelevant.

Ans : The vested Interest upon Inheritance means that  under Muslim law of Inheritance, the person must get the right in property vested in him. The vested Interest in property means that the person must get the property in which his interest is vested. E.g , If a person has two sons and both sons are married and his one son gets expired, the wife and children will get the share of the deceased son in the property.

Ans: The basic elements of Inheritance under Muslim law are as follows:  1. No concept of joint family:  There is no concept of joint family here and if there are two brothers,  they will be treated as seperate nuclear family. 2.  No concept of family business : Like Hindu Undivided Family in Hindu law. 3. No recognition of right by birth: The father has the highest significance under Muslim law. Whether it is self acquired property or  inherited property,  the person will get the right only after the death of predecessor. There is no right by birth on property. 4. Heritable Property: Under Muslim law, the property is always heritable and will be transferred from one generation to another generation.

Ans: The share of uterine brother and sister will be 1/6 if there is one in number and if more than one in number,  the 1/3 of total shares will be equally distributed among them. In case of uterine brother and uterine sister, the uterine brother will not get twice  share as compared to uterine sister but the shares will be distributed equally. 

Ans:  1. The share of husband will be 1/2 if there is no child and child of son. 2.The husband will get 1/4 if there is a child or child of son. That is to say that in absence of children, the husband's share will be 1/2 whereas in presence of children, the husband's share will be 1/4. 

Ans:  1. If the deceased is having more than one daughter then son's daughter will be entirely excluded from the Inheritance. 2. If the deceased is having one daughter,  the share of son's daughter will be 1/6 and share of daughter of deceased will be half . 3. If the deceased is having only one son's daughter and no daughter,  the share of son's daughter will be 1/2. 4. If the deceased is having two son's daughter and no daughter,  the share of son's daughter will be 2/3.

 Ans: The share of Wife will be 1/4 if there is : 1. No Child  2. Child of Son The wife will get 1/8 if there is child or child of son. This is to say, in absence of children,  the share of Wife will be 1/4 whereas in presence of children,  the share of wife will be 1/8.

Ans: The share of paternal Grandmother is 1/6 when both father and true grandfather does not exist.  The share of True grandmother( Maternal Grandmother) will be 1/ 6 if there is no mother and paternal Grandmother. If there is no father,  mother ,true grandfather of deceased,  the 1/6 share will be equally distributed between paternal grandmother and true grandmother. True grandmother will not be converted into residuaries and will not take residue in any situation.

Ans: The share of father and true grandfather will be same but the true grandfather will get the share only if father is no more and if father exists, the true grandfather will be excluded.

Ans: The Share of mother will be 1/6 if the children of deceased exist. If there is no children of deceased , the mother will get 1/3 of total shares if none of children, father, wife and collaterals exist and if wife or father  or collateral of deceased exist and deceased has no children, the mother will get 1/3 of residue.  

Ans: The Share of father will be 1/6 if there are both sons and daughter.  If there are only daughters and no son is present, the father's share will be 1/6 + Residue. If there are no sons and daughters, the father will be converted into residuary and the entire shares or whole residuary will be given to father. 

Ans: Full sister share if no ascendant and descendent and no other collateral: Share will be half. Full sister share if no ascendant and descendent and other collateral as sister: Share will be 2/3 which will be equally distributed between two sisters. Full sister share if no ascendant and descendent and other collateral as brother: Full sister will be converted into residuaries and full brother will get double share than full sister. x

Ans: If in descendent, there is only one daughter, the daughter's share will be half if there is no antecedent. If in descendent, there are two daughters, the daughter's share will be 2/3  which will be equally distributed among two daughters. If in descendent, there are two daughters and one son, the daughters will be converted into residuaries and the property will be divided into 4 parts and and son will get twice of share as compared to daughter's share. If in descendent, there are two daughters and one son, the daughters will be converted into residuaries and the property will be divided into 4 parts and and son will get twice of share than the daughter's share.

Ans: The share of uterine brother and sister will be 1/6 if there is one one in number and if more than one in number,  the 1/3 of total shares will be equally distributed among them. In case of uterine brother and uterine sister, the uterine brother will not get twice  share as compared to uterine sister but the shares will be distributed equally. 

Ans: Consanguine Sister's Share: Consanguine sister's share if no ascendant and descendent and no other collateral: share will be half. Consanguine sister share if no ascendant and descendent and other collateral as Consanguine sister sister: share will be 2/3 which will be equally distributed between two sisters. Consanguine sister share if no ascendant and descendent and other collateral as full sister: share will be 1/6 because the share of full sister will be 1/2. Consanguine sister's share if no ascendant and descendent and other collateral as two full sisters: consanguine sister will be excluded from Inheritance because the share of full sister will be 2/3 which will be equally distributed among two full sisters. Consanguine sister share if no ascendant and descendent and other collateral as one consanguine brother: In such a case, consanguine brother will take two share and consanguine sister will take one.

Ans: After making of Will, if legator committed suicide attempt, there will not be any effect on Will and before making of Will, if legator commits suicide attempt, the Will would become void under Shia law but there would be no effect on Will under Sunni law.

Ans: If legatee dies before legator, under sunni law, there will be the lapse of legacy whereas there will not be the lapse of legacy under Shia law. Under Sunni law, there will  be the lapse of legacy and after the death of legatee, the property will remain with the legator. But under shia law, after the death of legatee, the property will be  transferred to the legal heirs of legatee and there will not be the lapse of legacy.

Ans: The Muslim has unrestricted power to revoke a Will. The Will can be revoked expressedly by words oral or written or can be revoked implied by conduct. The revocation implied by conduct means that if legator has not said anything in oral and written form and has given his property to another person, it will be revocation implied by conduct.

Ans: Under Sunni law, heirs can be legatee only with the consent of other heirs. Under Shia law, the consent of other heirs are not required to make any heir a legatee. In case of stranger as legatee, under Sunni law, the  consent of other heirs are not required to make stranger as legatee and consent of other heirs are required to make heir as legatee.  But, under shia law, no consent of other heirs are required to make stranger as legatee as well as no consent of other heirs are required to make  heir as legatee.

Ans: The restriction on power of Muslim to make a Will will be as to quantum and as to who can be legatee. 1. Restriction as to quantum: Under Muslim law, the legator can give 1/3 of the property after deducting funeral expenses and debts to the legatee and if he would like to give more property than 1/3 of property, he will have to take the consent of other legal heirs.

Ans: The requisite formalities of Will under Muslim law are as follows: 1. The Will can be in oral or in writing.  2. No attestation or registration is required for Will.  3. The Will should clearly show intention.  4. The property can be tangible, intangible, moveable and immovable property.  5. The legator should be the owner at the time of death. 6. The property must be transferable.   7. The legator should possess testamentary right.

Ans: Under Muslim Personal Law, both legator at the time of making Will and legatee at the time of execution of Will must have the free consent. If the legator and legatee do not have free consent, the Will would become void.

Ans: Under Sunni Law, if the legatee becomes the murderer of legator intentionally or unintentionally, he will be disqualified from the Will. Under Shia law, if the legatee becomes the murderer of legatee unintentionally, he will not be disqualified from the Will but if the legatee becomes the murderer of legator intentionally, he will be disqualified from the Will. 

Ans: Under Muslim law, at the time of death of legator, the child must be in the womb of mother and child must be born alive within 6 months of legator's death.

Ans: According to Muslim Personal Law, the person who makes will is legator and the person in whose favour the will is made is legatee. It is testamentary transfer of property and comes into effect on the death of the person. The legator must be Muslim at the time of making will and of sound mind as well as the person has completed 18 years of age. The legatee can be any person whether Muslim or Non Muslim and should be capable of holding property and must be in existence at the time of legator's death.

Ans: The priority of rights in property under Muslim law is as follows: Burial> Debt>Will>Parents >Spouse >Child.

 Ans:  1. Distant Kindred in Descendants:  Children's of daughter and their descendents. Children of son's daughter and their descendents. 2. Distant Kindred in Ascendants: False Grandfather and false grandmother. 3. Descendent of parents: Brothers' daughter and their descendents,  brother son's daughter and their descendents,  sister's children and their descendents.  4. Descendents of immediate Grandparents and descendents of remoter ancestors. Priority: no1> no2> no3> no4

Ans: In quaranic heirs, the wife, and closest ascendant(mother and father) and descendent (children) can not be excluded.  In ascendant,  if father is not present,  true grandfather will be considered.  If mother is not present,  true grandmother will be considered and in descendent, if daughter is not present then son's daughter will be considered.   If no ascendant and descendent are present,  the collaterals i.e., full sister,  half sister, full brother,  half brother will get the share of the property.

Ans: Husband and Wife are only two quaranic heirs who are entitled to (1/4)th share of the property.  Husband will be entitled to (1/4)th share of the property if quaranic heirs and residuaries of deceased are present otherwise husband will be entitled to 1/2 share of property and wife will be entitled to (1/4)th share of the property if  quaranic heirs and residuaries of deceased are not present  and if quaranic heirs and residuaries of deceased are present,  the wife will be entitled to (1/8)th share of property.

 Ans: Quaranic heirs entitled to half share(1/2): There are five quaranic heirs who are entitled to half share of property.  1. Husband  2. Daughter  3. Son's daughter 4. Full Sister  5. Consanguine  Sister. These above mentioned five heirs will get the half share if no quaranic heirs and residuaries of deceased are present.

Ans: In Islamic law of Inheritance,  there are three types of heirs,i.e., 1. Sharers or Quaranic Heirs, 2. Residuaries, 3. Distant Kindred. Firstly the property is distributed among quaranic heirs, then residuaries and after distribution to residuaries if the property is still residue, it will be transferred back to quaranic heirs. If the quaranic heirs and residuaries are not present,  the property will be distributed among distant kindred. There are 12 persons in quaranic heirs and out of them, 4 persons are male and rest 8 persons are females. Son is included in residuaries and not in quaranic heirs but if son is present, it will also convert the daughter into residuaries.  Similarly Consanguine brother is not included in quaranic heirs and is included in residuaries but the presence of consanguine brother will convert the consanguine sister into residuaries. Similarly Son's son is not included in quaranic heirs and is included in residuaries but the presence of s...

Ans:  If a person has four sons and two daughters, according to Muslim Inheritance law, the son will get twice the property as compared to daughter after the distribution of property to father and wife. The wife will get 1/8 of the total property if wife has children and father will get 1/6 of the total property.  Since all these are Quranic heirs, so firstly the property will be given to that person who has more age. Firstly, the property will be given to father, then wife and then to children. Illustration: Suppose the property is of Rs 100 and according to Muslim Inheritance Law, firstly 1/6 of 100 i.e Rs12.50 and Rs 16.66 will be given to father and wife. Now the rest 100-(12.50+16.66) i.e 70.84 will be given to children.  Sons will get twice i.e Rs 14.168 will be distributed among four sons and Rs 0.78 will be distributed between two daughters.

Ans: Cognate means a person related to wholly through females either by blood or by adoption.  Where a person is related to the deceased through one or more females, he or she is called a cognate. A cognate is a relation who is related to the deceased through one, or more females. For example, the following are cognates: daughter's son, daughter's daughter, mother's father, father's mother's father.

Ans: Agnate means a person related to wholly through males either by blood or by adoption.  Where a person is related to the deceased through one or more male, he or she is called a agnate. An agnate can be a male or female.  An agnate is a relation who is related to the deceased whole through males. Thus, the following are the examples of agnates : deceased's son, deceased's son's son, deceased's son's son's son, deceased's son's daughter, deceased's son's son's daughter, deceased's father's father, deceased's father's mother, etc.

 Ans: According to inheritance under Muslim Personal Law:  1. If a person has one son and one daughter, the person dies and his son also dies whereas the son has two daughters, the share of daughter of person will be 1/2 whereas the 1/6 of total share will be distributed equally between Son's daughters. 2.  If a person has one son and two daughters, the person dies and his son also dies whereas the son has two daughters, the share of daughters of person will be 2/3 which will be equally distributed among the daughters and the son's daughters will be excluded from shares in this case. 3. If a person has one son , the person dies and his son also dies whereas the son has one son and  two daughters, the daughters of son will be converted into residuaries and son's son will get twice of share from daughters or half of the shares i.e., out of total 4 shares, the son's son will get 2 shares whereas the residue shares i.e., 2 will be equally divided among two daughters and ...

 Ans:  1. The mother will get 1/6 if entitled descendant exist(son and daughter and their children) or brothers and sisters exist. 2. The mother's share will be 1/3 if neither children's, brothers, sisters, father nor spouse exist. 3. The mother will get 1/3 of residue if brothers, sisters, father or spouse exist. Here the 1/3 of residue is due to existence of father. 

 Ans:  1. The share of father of deceased will be 1/6 if there are son and daughter of deceased.  2. The share of father will be 1/6 plus residue if there are only daughters and no son to the deceased.  3. If there is no children(Son and daughter )to the deceased, the father will be converted into the residuaries and take the entire residue. 

Ans. 1.The daughter will get 1/2 if there is only one daughter and no son is there. 2. The daughter share will be 2/3 if there are two or more daughters and no son is there . This 2/3 share will be equally divided among the daughters. 3.. The share of wife will be 1/8th of total share if there are children and 1/4th of total share if there are no children.    x

Ans: There are three types of heirs in Muslim law:  1.  Quaranic Heirs: Quaranic Heirs are those Heirs who are entitled to get a prescribed/ Specific Share from the heritable property. 2. Residuaries: Residuaries are those heirs who inherit only the residue of the property after allotment of respective shares to the Quranic heirs. 3. Distant Kindred: Persons related to propositus through blood but neither included in Quaranic Heirs, nor of residuaries,  are called distant Kindred. So, distant kindred heirs will get the property in condition that no quaranic heirs and residuaries are available.

Ans: When a Muslim dies, there are four duties which need to be performed.  These are: 1. Payment of funeral expenses; 2. Payment of his/her debts; 3. Execution of his/her will(Testate Succession); 4. Distribution of remaining estate amongst the heirs according to Sharia(Intestate Succession).

Ans: The reason of repealing Triple Talak System in Muslim Law is polygamy.  The four wives allowed in Muslim Personal law was the major cause of increasing divorce cases in Muslim Community and it became essential for Honourable Supreme Court to declare Triple Talak System unconstitutional.  The Supreme Court of India passed a landmark judgment on the 22nd of August, 2017 in which it declared the practice of Triple Talaq as unconstitutional and the practice of the same be void.  On 30 July 2019, the Parliament of India declared the practice of Triple Talaq illegal and unconstitutional and made it a punishable act from 1 August 2019. 

Ans: According to Hindu Succession Act, 1956 all the children will have same right in ancestral property but according to Muslim Personal Law, the provision is different. Let us understand with the given below illustration:  Illustration: Suppose A is son of B and A has two wives C and D. C has one child E and D has one child i.e., F.  A conducted his third marriage from G and after marriage with G, A died.  After the death of A , G gave birth to H, a male child.  Now, according to Muslim personal law, the H will not have the right on property because H will get the right from his father and not from his mother in ancestral property but A died before the birth of H, thus H will not have the right in ancestral property and only those children that were present when A was alive will have the right in the ancestral property. 

 Ans: According to Muslim Personal law, a muslim man can have maximum four wives but a Muslim woman is permitted to have maximum one husband and is bound to follow all the laws of Shariat. 

 Ans: According to Muslim Personal Law, the half of the property which is given to man will be given to Muslim Woman. Illustration: Suppose the property is land of 200 acres , the court gransts 50 acres of land to man, according to Muslim personal law, the half of 50 acres i.e., 25 acres will be granted to woman.

Ans: There are two types of law in Muslim Community because Muslim Community is divided into Siya Muslim and Sunni Muslim and are as follows:  1. Sunni Law  2. Siya Law The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act was passed in 1937 with the aim to formulate an Islamic law code for Indian Muslims and is known as Muslim Personal Law. It is applicable to both Siya and Sunni.