(4:11) Allah thus commands you concerning your children: the share of the male is like that of two females.15 If (the heirs of the deceased are) more than two daughters, they shall have two-thirds of the inheritance;16 and if there is only one daughter, then she shall have half the inheritance. If the deceased has any offspring, each of his parents shall have a sixth of the inheritance;17 and if the deceased has no child and his parents alone inherit him, then one-third shall go to his mother;18
and if the deceased has brothers and sisters, then one-sixth shall go to his mother.19 All these shares are to be given after payment of the bequest he might have made or any debts outstanding against him.20
You do not know which of them, your parents or your children, are more beneficial to you. But these portions have been determined by Allah, for He indeed knows all, is cognizant of all beneficent considerations.21
15. This is the first general rule in connection with inheritance, viz., that the share of the male should be double that of the female. Since Islamic law imposes
greater financial obligations on men in respect of family life and relieves women of a number of such obligations, justice demands that a woman’s share in inheritance should be less than that of a man.
