A person died before more than 20 years leaving behind a small wealth. He had a wife, 4 girls and 1 boy only. The son had worked with that small wealth of his father for these past 20 years without distributing their father’s wealth among the shariee people. Their mother had passed away 2 years ago. Now the son wants to distribute his father’s wealth among his sisters, bearing in mind that the small wealth now has become a big wealth. How should he distribute it according to sharie’a? And if there are some bad debts on the company, will it be distributed among all or only on the son’s part? And can he deduct some amount from the total considering it as a monthly salary for him self?
1. If the remaining heirs had given permission for you to use that wealth, then the profit earned would be yours and the original wealth will be divided amongst the heirs. However, if permission was not taken from the heirs then the entire estate should be divided amongst the heirs according to their respective Shar’ee shares. (Ahsanul Fataawa vol.9 pg.285)
2. The bad debts can be paid off from the profits and not the original wealth.
3. He may not deduct a salary unless it was previously agreed by the other heirs.
and Allah Ta’ala Knows Best
Mufti Ebrahim Desai