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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Rights of Women in Islam Part Nine: The Question of Inheritance The old world either gave absolutely no inheritance to women or, when it was given, the woman was treated as a minor, which meant that she was not given independence and the status of a person having rights.

Under the old laws of the world, if inheritance was occasionally given to daughters, it was never given to the daughter’s children, while a son could inherit himself, and his children could grow up as the successor to their father’s property as well. In some other laws of the world which gave an equal inheritance to women and men alike but not in the shape of a specified share, it was what the Qur’an mentions as نصيباً مفروضاً ( i.e.

a fixed share to which she was entitled ), but it took this form: a person was entitled, if he so liked, to make a will in favour of his daughter as well. The history of women’s inheritance is long. Scholars and learned persons have extensively examined it, and have left behind a vast body of investigations and writings on this subject which can be studied. I do not think it necessary to quote from their writings and their observations. The summary of their writings is as we have mentioned above.

The cause of woman’s being deprived of inheritance The cause of a woman’s being deprived of inheritance was to prevent the transfer of family property to another family. According to the old idea, the role of the mother in the birth of a child was considered to be insignificant. Mothers were considered were considered as mere containers in which the man’s sperm developed, and out of which a child came into existence.

For that reason they believed that the children of someone’s son were the issue of a man, and thus they were a part and parcel of his family. On the other hand, the children of his daughters were not his children, but the children of the husband of the daughter, and they belonged to the family of the husband of the daughter. Consequently, if a daughter inherited, and afterwards her children succeeded her, that.

would cause situation where the wealth of one family would pass on to a different family. In the book, Irth dar huquq-e madani-e Iran (Inheritance in the Civil Laws of Iran) written by the late Dr.