A man proposed to a virgin girl and completed the marriage contract, but before consummating the marriage, the man passed away, leaving behind an estate, with no children or relatives.
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : A man proposed to a virgin girl and completed the marriage contract, but before consummating the marriage, the man passed away, leaving behind an estate, with no children, no relatives, and no heirs other than this wife to whom he had contracted marriage. Does she inherit from him even though he did not consummate the marriage? Please inform us, and may you be rewarded.
The Shaykh : The answer is yes, she inherits from him, due to the generality of the statement of Allah the Exalted:[An-Nisa 4:12] The wife is considered a wife by virtue of a valid contract alone. Therefore, if a valid contract is completed and her husband dies, she inherits from him, and the waiting period for widowhood is obligatory upon her, even if he did not consummate the marriage. She is entitled to the full mahr. Any amount from his estate that exceeds her inheritance share belongs to the closest male relative. In this specific case asked about by the questioner, if no heirs are found for this deceased man—neither those with fixed shares nor residuary heirs—then what exceeds the woman's share goes to the public treasury, because the public treasury is the entity to which all wealth without a specific owner is directed. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah bless you.
This is a message we received from the listener Abdullah, may Allah reward him. It is a set of questions. He says in his first question:
The Shaykh : The answer is yes, she inherits from him, due to the generality of the statement of Allah the Exalted:
And for the wives is one fourth if you leave no child. But if you leave a child, then for them is an eighth of what you leave, after any bequest you [may have] made or debt.
وَلَهُنَّ الرُّبُعُ مِمَّا تَرَكْتُمْ إِنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَكُمْ وَلَدٌ فَإِنْ كَانَ لَكُمْ وَلَدٌ فَلَهُنَّ الثُّمُنُ مِمَّا تَرَكْتُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ تُوصُونَ بِهَا أَوْ دَيْنٍThe questioner : May Allah bless you.
This is a message we received from the listener Abdullah, may Allah reward him. It is a set of questions. He says in his first question: