Dought & Clear, - Their father died and left them a house and a tailor shop; how should the estate be divided among them?.

We are a family composed of four daughters and one son, who is
married, as are two of the daughters, and the other two daughters are
still at home with our mother. One of them works for a private company
and theother is the youngest of us, and is the focus of our question;
she works as a tailor. When my father died, may Allah have mercy on
him, he left us a house that he had built, so it belongs to us, and he
left the store in which he was a tailor and for which he used to pay
rent every month. We have allowedour sister who works as a tailor to
use the shop after our father died; now she is the one who spends on
the house andon our mother, but the Shaytaan has started to whisper
into the hearts of some of us and some have started to demand their
share of this shop.
What is the Islamic opinion concerning this?Is it permissible for us
to speak about the inheritance at all when our mother is still alive?
Are we entitled to a share of the income earned by our sister by means
of her own efforts in this shop? Especially since I am certain that
she is the one who is bearing the responsibility of spending on the
house and on our mother, withall that she needs of medicines and other
things. This matter is upsetting my mother too, and she is the one who
has asked me to consult someone whom Itrust concerning the ruling so
that she will not be wronging any of her children.
Praise be to Allah.
Firstly:
The basic principle is that whatever the deceased left of wealth,
property or goods belongs to all of the heirs, whether that estate is
small or big, because Allah, may He beexalted, says (interpretation of
the meaning):
"There is a share for menand a share for women from what is left by
parents and those nearest related, whether, the property be small or
large - a legalshare"
[an-Nisa' 4:7].
Based on that, what your father left behind of sewing machines in that
shop are to be regarded as belonging to all of the heirs; if they wish
they may sell those machines and divide the price amongst themselves,
each according to his allocated share of the inheritance. So the one
whose share is one eighth, for example, maytake one eighth of the sale
price, and so on for the rest of the heirs.
In fact this is what we advise you to do, to divide the estate and
give each person his or her share. The one who works in that
profession is more entitled to the shop than anyone else, so she
should give each of the heirs his share, and you should be easy going
with regard to that. If she is not able to pay all that she is
required to, then be lenient towards her withregard to payment.
If they want to leave the machines and the shop as they are, if the
heirs agree to that, in that case then the sister who is working can
rent it from them, so the rent ofthe shop and machines will be an
inheritance to be distributed among the heirs, each according to his
share ofinheritance; or they can pay her a salary like that of her
professional peers, whatever is left over (of the income fromthe shop)
may be distributed among the heirs; or she can work on a profit-share
basis (mudaarabah), in which she receives a portion ofthe profit and
the othersreceive the rest. Any of these options may be chosen,
according to what you agree upon.
The safest of these solutions and the one which is most likely to
prevent conflict, is to divide the estate completely. Experts should
work out the value of what your father left in the shop of machines
and so on, andit should be divided among the heirs.
Secondly:
The fact that your mother is still alive has nothing to do with the
question of dividing the estate; rather if any of the heirs asks for
his share of the inheritance then it should be given to him. This has
been explained previously in the answer to question no. 97842
With regard to your mother's maintenance, such as food, drink and so
on, if her share of the inheritance is not sufficient to meet her
needs, then those of her children who are well off are obliged to
spend on her. If they are equal in that regard, then the
responsibility for maintenance should be shared among them. For more
information on this matter, please see question no. 144721
We ask Allah to grant you ample provision andto unite you in truth andgoodness.
And Allah knows best. - - ▓███▓ Translator:->
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