Islam gave...

Islam gave, by express provision of Law, right of inheritance to those who were excluded by the ancient institutions. One of the beneficial results of the new divine law was to raise the status of women in the scale of civilization, by elevating their economic and social position, and giving the widow, the mother, the daughters and sisters and other female relatives a right to inheritance.

This spirit has been preserved in the Shi’a school of Law, which, to quote the words of the great jurist, Sayyid Amir Ali, "is of the greatest simplicity and does not involve any discussion regarding the relative rights of agnates and cognates - 'Asabah and the Zav-il-Arham’. Then he goes on to say that the greatest distinction, in fact, between the Shi’a and the Sunni Law of Inheritance consists in the question of agnacy.

The Shi’ahs repudiate in total the doctrine of Taasib or agnacy; consequently the paternal relations of the male sex or what are called 'Asbah proper’ in Sunni Jurisprudence, have no special privilege, nor are they preferred to the relations connected with the deceased through females.

For example, Shi’ahs consider it as contrary to justice to exclude the daughter's children in favor of the remote descendants of a brother, on the fictitious ground of their being connected with the deceased through male relations". (Mohammedan Law, by Ameer Ali Vol, 2; p. 128).

For example: (a) If a Sunni Muslim dies, leaving behind him a daughter's daughter with a brother's son, the brother's son, would, as an Asabah (agnate), take the entire inheritance in exclusion of the deceased's own grandchild. Under the Shi’a Ithna-’Ashari Law, the grand-daughter of the deceased, as a lineal descendant takes the whole property to the exclusion of the brother's son.

(b) If a Sunni Muslim dies, leaving behind him a daughter and a brother, the daughter takes her specified share, viz., a moiety and the rest goes to the brother as an Asabah (agnate). Under the Shi’a Ithna-’Ashari Law, she takes the whole estate, half as...