Mirath

The Islamic system of inheritance and the transfer of wealth from a deceased Muslim to their rightful heirs. Mirath is governed by detailed Quranic rules (see Faraid) that prescribe fixed shares for specific relatives. A Muslim may only bequeath up to one-third of their estate outside the fixed shares (via wasiyyah).

The remaining two-thirds must be distributed according to the Faraid system. In the U.S., Muslims typically need an Islamic will to ensure their estate is distributed according to mirath rules, as state intestacy laws follow different distribution formulas.

Mirath is the Islamic law of inheritance as a whole — the science (also called ilm al-faraid) the Prophet reportedly called 'half of knowledge' and urged Muslims to learn. It encompasses the fixed Qur'anic shares (Faraid proper, from 4:11-12 and 4:176), the residuary system (asaba), the exclusion rules (hajb), the arithmetic adjustments (awl and radd), and the estate-settlement sequence: funeral costs, then debts, then the capped one-third bequest, then distribution. Two design principles explain most of its structure.

First, distribution is mandatory and formula-driven — a Muslim cannot disinherit Qur'anic heirs or redirect their shares by will, which is the deepest difference from American testamentary freedom. Second, shares track support obligations: men's larger shares pair with their legal duty (nafaqah) to financially maintain wives, children, and needy relatives, a duty women inherit free of. For American Muslims, mirath is a compliance project because no state applies it by default: it requires a will or trust implementing the shares, beneficiary designations aligned with them, and attention to legal collisions — community property regimes, spousal elective shares that let a widow(er) override the will, and joint-tenancy survivorship that bypasses the estate entirely.

Islamic estate platforms and attorneys address these with tools like transmutation agreements and spousal waivers, which is exactly the planning our estate-planning provider reviews evaluate.