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The Scenario of Hanafi Laws of Inheritance in Bangladesh: An Overview
Md. Sher-E-Alam, Senior Lecturer, Department of Law and Justice, Metropolitan University, Sylhet, Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is a south Asian country in which most of the people maintain Hanafi School of inheritance which is one of the four major Schools of Sunni Islamic path. The Shiah thought has its own ways to distribute the Muslim heritable property. Every Muslim successor has some rights in heritable property of his/her kinships as well as some obligations to perform the funeral activities of a deceased person. All those rules are specified in Islamic Law of inheritance. The research will highlight the right of inheritance for both males and females under the Hanafi Law of inheritance and point out the present situation of practicing this power in Bangladesh.
It also gives focus the Quranic portions of heritable property and try to distinguish among different principles and dogmas of inheritance. The research has been conducted applying the analytical method of study. Necessary data and information used in this study have been collected from primary as well as secondary sources of the relevant field such as various public and private documents, codified laws, case laws, books, booklets, books of hadith, articles and manuals relating to inheritance. Female portion in heritable property is another burning issue of present Bangladesh. So, another objective of this research is to draw attention to this issue and to provide the real scenario by providing accurate Islamic rules. For practicing these celestial laws properly in Bangladesh some recommendations are also provided.
Prologue: There is a popular statement attributed to the prophet Mohamed (peace be upon him-s.a.w) says ”learn the laws of inheritance and teach them to the people for they are one-half of useful knowledge (half the sum of ‘ilm’).”1 This ideal statement has been embedded in the hearts of the Muslim Jurists in the world. On the basis of the statement they have been circulating that it is obligatory to all Muslims to learn the Islamic laws of succession. The modern law experts have admired the Muslim system of inheritance for its utility and formal excellence.2 British jurist Sir William Jones said, “I am strongly disposed to believe that no possible question could occur on the Muslim law of succession which might not be rapidly and correctly answered.” Another famous professor N.J Coulson mentioned, “Within the framework of the Islamic legal system as a whole the law of succession occupies a particularly prominent and important position. Historically they provide an excellent example of the general process of legal development in Islam.”
Objectives: The main objective of this research is to find out the present situations relating to inheritance under Hanafi Muslim law in Bangladesh. However, the research will attempt to achieve the following objectives:
a) To explore the meaning and significance of Muslim inheritance;
b) To illustrate the right of inheritance for both males and females under the Hanafi Law of inheritance.
c) To point out the exercise of this power of inheritance at present time in Bangladesh;
d) To give stress the status of women and hermaphrodite persons in inheritance and to find out the practice in
Bangladesh with proper recommendations. and
e) To construct a conclusion recommending some suggestions.
Etymologically, in Arabic term inheritance, is known as ‘faraid,’ which is the plural of ‘fareedah’, which means something that has been set, fixed or determined. The laws related to the shares of inheritance allotted to various relatives by the holy Quran.4 In Islamic law ‘faraid’ is the combinations of Islamic rules and principles by which heritable properties of a Muslim deceased are distributed among his/her successors. Inheritance is that ancient right of living person relating to properties which imposed upon that person from the descendant.5According to Fatawa-e-Alamgiri, Inheritance means the distribution of ownership of the estates of a deceased person to the living heirs. It is a right to the heirs and there is no consideration for this distribution. So, Inheritance and faraid are not synonymous at all. The first one means the right of a successor in the heritable property of a Muslim propositus and the last one is the Islamic procedural law to distribute that property. Broadly speaking, law of inheritance is classified into two-Sunni and Shia laws.
Sunni is called because they follow the Sunna of the Prophet Mohammad (s.a.w). Sunna means his sayings or doings. The majority of Muslims today are Sunnis. They accept the first four Caliphs (including Ali) as the “rightly guided” rulers who followed the Prophet. In theory, Sunnis believe that the leader (imam) of the Muslim community should be selected on the basis of communal consensus, on the existing political order, and on a leader’s individual merits.6 They believe the first four caliphs, or supreme religious leaders, were the rightful successors of the Prophet Mohammed (s.a.w) but have chosen subsequent leaders based on Islamic political realities of the time.
