Q: A Sunni ruler from a princely state in India who performed more than four marriages. In order to get away from the Income Tax Department a few years before he died he gave an affidavit to the government that his legally wedded wives were only four. The other Ladies whom he had children with lived with him throughout their lives. The children were his own. The ruler provided them with everything. Not only his children but he also recognised his grandchildren by accepting them many a times and provided them with everything. Will the share of inheritance for children from the fifth marriage or the sixth marriage whom he accepted and acknowledged throughout his life time as his sons and daughters different from the children’s share of his first four marriages or will his inheritance be distributed equally among all the heirs.
A: His children whether from the first wife or last wife (provided it was a marriage that was valid according to the shari`ah) will inherit.
And Allah Ta’ala (الله تعالى) knows best.
Answered by:
Mufti Ebrahim Salejee (Isipingo Beach)