A person with no descendants or relatives, who owns properties and agricultural lands, is very old, approaching one hundred and thirty years of age, and has lost his sight and memory.

The questioner : A person with no descendants or relatives, who owns properties and agricultural lands, is very old, approaching one hundred and thirty years of age, and has lost his sight and memory, as if he were in the age of childhood. He is now closer to death than to life, and there is no one who cares for him or looks after him. I have cousins who claim to be his heirs, motivated by worldly desires and forgetting the Hereafter. When they were asked how they would inherit from him, they said that his farm is next to their farm. Knowing that I am their brother, their cousin, I denied that. I am twenty years older than them. I asked the elders of the tribe, and they said that he is not connected to us, and his grandfather is not connected to our grandfather by any kinship tie. What is the ruling regarding this person's estate and the claims of these people?

The Shaykh : The ruling regarding who is entitled to this man's estate cannot be issued until he dies and it becomes clear who inherits from him. Who knows? Perhaps these healthy, strong, and powerful men will die before him. As long as he has a thread of life, no ruling can be made regarding who inherits from him until Allah the Exalted takes his soul. And when Allah the Exalted takes his soul, it is known among the scholars that a condition for establishing inheritance is knowledge of the side that necessitates inheritance. How is this man who claimed to be an heir to this deceased connected to him? By which side does he have the right to inheritance? This matter returns to the judge of the court when this old man passes away. Yes.

The questioner : Also, this is a question from a listener from Iraq, who says.