The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume II — Page 355
VIII - Blow of a Misfortune, Law of Inheritance, Prohibition of Alcohol, Treachery of the Disbelievers and Two Tragic Incidents 355 and then rebounds in the opposite direction with even greater speed. In the Holy Qur’ān, the battle of Uḥud has primarily been mentioned in Sūrah Āl-e- ‘Imrān, 1 where pertinent events of the battle have been brought to light and the Muslims have been given various fundamental guidelines for the future. Islāmic Law of Inheritance In the account of the battle of Uḥud, the martyrdom of Sa‘d bin Ar- Rabī‘ ra has been mentioned. Sa‘d ra was an affluent man and possessed a distinct status within his tribe. He did not have any male offspring, only two daughters and a wife. Until now, no new injunctions regarding the division of inheritance had been revealed to the Holy Prophet sa. As such, inheritance was divided among the Companions according to ancient custom, whereby if the deceased did not have any male offspring, his paternal relatives would take possession of the inheritance and the widow and daughters would be left empty handed. Therefore, upon the martyrdom of Sa‘d bin Ar-Rabī‘ ra , his brother took possession of all the inheritance, and his widow and daughters were left completely without support. Troubled by this distress, the widow of Sa‘d presented herself before the Holy Prophet sa along with her two daughters, and expressed her grief whilst relating the entire account. This painful account hurt the pure disposition of the Holy Prophet sa , but since no injunctions had been revealed to the Holy Prophet sa from God in this respect, the Holy Prophet sa said, “Wait for some time and a verdict shall be given according to the injunctions which are revealed by God. ” As such, the Holy Prophet sa supplicated to God, and it was not long before a few of the verses regarding inheritance were revealed to the Holy Prophet sa , which have also been vouchsafed in Sūrah An-Nisā’ 2 of the Holy Qur’ān. At this, the Holy Prophet sa called the brother of Sa‘d ra and instructed him to give two-thirds of the inheritance to the daughters of Sa‘d ra , one-eighth to his sister-in-law, and to keep whatever remained thereafter. 3 From then on, new laws on the division of inheritance were instituted, whereby a wife is entitled to one-eighth of her husband’s inheritance if he has children, and one- forth if he does not have any children; and a daughter is entitled to a portion equivalent to half of her brother from the inheritance of her father, and if she 1 Āl-e-‘Imrān (Chapter 3, Rukū‘ 13-18) 2 An-Nisā’ (Chapter 4, Rukū‘ 1-2) 3 * Sunanut-Tirmidhī, Kitābul-Farā’iḍ, Bābu Mā Jā’a Fī Mīrāthil-Banāt, Ḥadīth No. 2092 * Sunanu Abī Dāwūd, Kitābul-Farā’iḍ, Bābu Mā Jā’a Fī Mīrāthiṣ-Ṣulb, Ḥadīth No. 2891 * Jāmi‘ul-Bayān