Does a Muslim father inherit from his communist son if he dies?

The questioner : A believer does not inherit from a disbeliever, and a disbeliever does not inherit from a believer.

The Shaykh : That is correct.

The questioner : A communist son went to study in communist countries, and his capital grew, and then he died. Is it permissible for the father to inherit his wealth?

The Shaykh : You asked and I answered, so what do you want me to answer you?

The questioner : The question is: Is it permissible for the heir to take the wealth of the deceased?

The Shaykh : You are saying that a Muslim does not inherit from a disbeliever.

The questioner : I mentioned that as an introduction, but this is a specific case, meaning an interrogative question. That is, you have a son. We have not answered yet; we want the answer from you.

The Shaykh : The answer is your answer. Listen, my brother, you have now put yourself in a difficult position.

The questioner : No, I have not put myself in a difficult position.

The Shaykh : Why do you say no? Why don't you tell me no? Why don't you say how? - Al-Albani, may Allah have mercy on him, the Shaykh of the Sunnah, laughed, may Allah have mercy on him. - When you finally asked who should leave this wealth to? You put yourself in a difficult position. Why? If you had asked, "A communist disbeliever son died, does his Muslim father inherit from him?" you would not have put yourself in a difficult position.

The questioner : All right, we are done with your question.

The Shaykh : No, we are not done. We want to learn lessons from our mistakes so that they do not repeat, right or wrong?

The questioner : Correct.

The Shaykh : If it is not right, I will go back. - He laughed, may Allah have mercy on him. - Many people address issues and problems that occur with their own logic. This is a mistake, and this mistake is most severe when the one who wants to address the issue with his own logic has some knowledge regarding this issue, and this person is you specifically, not anyone else. Because you surprised me with something that pleased me. You said, "It is known that a Muslim does not inherit from a disbeliever, and a disbeliever does not inherit from a Muslim." I said, "Praise be to Allah, our brother the questioner has knowledge." And then he quickly demolished this knowledge with his interrogative, which grammarians call an interrogative of reproach: "Who should take this wealth? To whom should this wealth be left?"

The questioner : We do not know the abrogating and the abrogated. We say that perhaps there is another chapter, and a chapter before that chapter.

The Shaykh : Yes. As I told you, it was not necessary for you to say that it is known that a Muslim does not inherit from a disbeliever, and a disbeliever does not inherit from a Muslim. Because if this is known, your last question becomes unknown, because there is a contradiction within yourself. And I do not like a Muslim to be contradictory. So the best thing would have been to keep it hidden in your heart and not say that it is known such and such, and then demolish that known fact with that strange interrogative: "Who takes this wealth?" I am now erasing everything I heard and assuming that you are asking: "A young communist disbeliever died in the land of disbelief, does his father inherit from him?" The answer that you like, of course,

The questioner : No, I do not like it...

The Shaykh : May Allah guide you. You like it because it stems from knowledge and correct understanding, not that I am going to give you an answer that you like and contradicts the Shari'ah. Do not hope to hear that. - He laughed, may Allah have mercy on him, and the students, may Allah preserve them. - First of all, it is obligatory that we do not assume in our minds that every communist is a disbeliever. Do you understand this starting point? It is necessary that we do not assume in our minds that every communist is a disbeliever. No. He may be a disbeliever, and he may be an open sinner who is not a disbeliever. And in that case, the result differs. If he is an open sinner who is not a disbeliever, the hadith Do you understand? So, if the question is about a specific person, it is necessary to investigate whether the one who will be inherited from is known with certainty to have apostatized from his religion, because of his communism, or for another reason, such as atheism. And atheism has types and calamities. Because the communist is like the Ba'athist in some Islamic countries, such as the Afghans who ruled the country and were supported by the Soviets, like the Ba'athists in some countries, including the Syrian country. So, it is not permissible to declare every individual of these people a disbeliever or that he is not a disbeliever. That is, it is not permissible to give a general ruling, either by declaring someone a disbeliever or by declaring them an open sinner. Rather, each person must be studied individually. For example, I give you an example: a communist who prays. How do they combine? Ah, here now you need to take a warning. That this one who is praying, either he is praying based on belief, in which case he is not a communist disbeliever. I am not saying that he is not a communist. If he is a communist who adopts the communist system, this disbeliever who is astray, I cannot say he is not a communist. But the communist, like the Ba'athist, is divided into two categories: a communist disbeliever, a Ba'athist disbeliever, a communist who is not a disbeliever, and a Ba'athist who is not a disbeliever. So, if you see a communist praying and you are convinced that his prayer is not hypocrisy, then it is not permissible to declare him a disbeliever. It is sufficient for you to consider him astray because he adopts a system for dealing with the economy in this worldly life, which is different from the system of Islam. So, he is one of two types, and the majority of these people are a group of ignorant people who did not know of Islam except a little, except this prayer that he prays. And perhaps he fasts or does not fast, Allah knows best. These people are ignorant that Islam came with all the systems by which life is not rectified except with them. And there is no equivalent to them among the disbelievers and the followers of other principles. But they are ignorant and do not know this reality. Then these young people are afflicted with what the poet indicated, even if not in this field, he said:
"Her love came to me before I knew love, and it found an empty heart and took hold of it."
So, these young people are overflowing and not studying the system of Islam in economics, in society, in politics, and so on. They heard something and their minds were empty, they were pleased with it and adopted it. But they do not know that what they adopted is contrary to Islam and opposed to Islam, as evidenced by the fact that he is still practicing the Islam that he knows. Look, he is praying.
So, this communist who prays, and you believe that he does not pray out of hypocrisy for his father or his brother or the society in which he lives, but out of belief, then he is not a disbeliever, he is a Muslim. But if we hear from him words that Islam is not suitable for this time, that Islam was sent for those Arab Bedouin groups who did not know how to wash or clean themselves, and so on. Therefore, our Lord sent down to them purity, prayer, and so on. And now there is no need for all these things. Then he has exited the religion, just as a hair exits from dough. So, if the son you are referring to is from the first category, then he is inherited from by his father and by every heir of his. And if he is from the second category, then no Muslim inherits from him. And do not worry about what will happen to this wealth later, because the ruling of the Lord of the Worlds for you is that it is forbidden for you, and the matter is ended.