Hajb (Blocking)

Hajb is the principle in Islamic inheritance (Faraid) whereby the presence of a nearer or stronger heir reduces or completely excludes a more distant one. For example, a son blocks the deceased's brothers and sisters entirely, a father blocks the grandfather, and a mother blocks the grandmother. Partial blocking (hajb nuqsan) reduces a share — a spouse drops from 1/2 to 1/4, or 1/4 to 1/8, when descendants exist.

Understanding hajb is essential because it explains why some relatives inherit nothing even when they are close. A Faraid calculator applies blocking automatically.

Hajb — 'blocking' — is the Faraid doctrine that determines which relatives are excluded from inheritance by the presence of closer ones. It comes in two forms. Total blocking (hajb hirman) removes an heir entirely: a grandfather is blocked by a living father; a grandson by a living son; siblings are blocked by the deceased's father and by male descendants.

Partial blocking (hajb nuqsan) reduces a share: a husband drops from 1/2 to 1/4 when the deceased leaves children; a mother drops from 1/3 to 1/6. Core heirs — spouse, parents, sons, daughters — can be reduced but never fully blocked. The doctrine is why Islamic inheritance outcomes are combination-dependent and cannot be reduced to a single static percentage table: the same brother who inherits generously in one family configuration receives nothing in another because a son exists.

For U.S. estate planning, hajb has a concrete drafting consequence: an Islamic will cannot simply name individuals with fixed percentages, because the correct distribution is unknowable until the moment of death (heirs may predecease, be born, or convert). Well-drafted American Islamic wills therefore describe the Faraid methodology — including blocking rules — rather than hard-coding shares, or direct the executor to a qualified calculation at death.