The 'Umariyya cases of inheritance (the mother's third)

العُمَرِيَّة

'Umariyya is the name of two cases in the law of inheritance, a husband with both parents or a wife with both parents, named after 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may God be pleased with him), who was the first to decide them ¹. The mother takes a third where the deceased has no child or grandchild and the parents alone inherit, and a sixth where there is a child or two or more siblings ¹ ². 'Umar and the majority held that in the 'umariyya the mother takes a third of what remains after the spouse's share; so with a husband the estate is counted as six shares, the husband taking three, the mother one and the father two, and with a wife twelve shares. Ibn 'Abbas, Abu Bakr al-Asamm and Zayd ibn Thabit (may God be pleased with him) differed in their reasoning ² ³.

Depth

At a glance

Era: The Prophetic Era
Region: Global / Diaspora
Review: Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

Family, marriage and kinship Development of law, theology and institutions

Summary

'Umariyya is the name of two cases in inheritance: a husband with both parents, or a wife with both parents, named after 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, who was the first to decide them ¹.

The mother's share

The mother takes a third where the deceased has no child or grandchild and the parents alone inherit, and a sixth where there is a child or two or more siblings ¹ ².

The ruling

'Umar and the majority held that the mother takes a third of what remains after the spouse's share; the estate is counted as six shares with a husband and twelve with a wife. Ibn 'Abbas, Zayd ibn Thabit and Abu Bakr al-Asamm differed ² ³.

Where to look further

Inheritance is treated under «irth» ³.

People and things also explored

Agnatic kin (asaba) in inheritance, guardianship and custody· Dismissal from office and withdrawal (azl)· Taj Mahal· Abawan (the two parents)· Biting and the liability for injury it causes (add)· Justice and uprightness (adl)· Justice among co-wives· Obstructing a marriage (adl): the guardian and the husband

Sources

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.11836
al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.11837
al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.11838

Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “The 'Umariyya cases of inheritance (the mother's third)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/umariyya/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

Improve this page on GitHub · Report an error · JSON

Wing

Ideas

Beliefs, concepts, sciences and schools, explained in plain words. Related

Agnatic kin (asaba) in inheritance, guardianship and custody

In the lexicon, asaba are a man's sons and his paternal relatives, who inherit from him. As a term they are the heirs who have no fixed share in the inheritance agreed upon, and who take what remains after the sharers take theirs, or the whole estate if there are no sharers. They are set against the sharers (ashab al-furud), who have a fixed share in the Book of God, and against the distant kin (dhawu al-arham), who are relatives with neither a fixed share nor agnatic standing. Agnates in inheritance are of three kinds: the agnate in his own right, such as a son; the agnate through another, such as daughters with their brothers; and the agnate with another, such as sisters with daughters. They take what the fixed shares leave, and the whole estate if alone. Agnates also have priority in the washing and funeral prayer of the dead, the right to contract a marriage on behalf of a woman, custody of a child when no woman entitled to it is available, and the bearing of blood money for manslaughter, with the Shafi'is excluding the ascendant and descendant from that burden.