Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 260
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 260 daughters with her, went to the Holy Prophet and explained their situation to him. He was deeply moved, but as he had so far received no divine instruction concerning inheritance, he told her to wait till some divine direction pertinent to her situation wa s vouchsafed. Not long after, verses 12 - 13 of Chapter 4 were revealed, regulating inheritance, whereby in the situation that had arisen the widow was held entitled to one - eighth of the inheritance, and the daughters to two - thirds of it, and the brother onl y to the small residue. Upon this, the Holy Prophet sent for S’ad’s brother and directed him to hand over their respective shares to his brother’s widow and his daughters, and to retain only his own share. He carried out the direction fully. The Muslim law of inheritance, the greater part of which is set out in the verses cited above, was a great improvement on the Arab custom of inheritance, particularly so far as women are concerned. Altogether, in pre - Islamic Arabia, Arab custom bore hardly upon women, and Islam carried out a beneficent revolution in favour of women, into the details of which it is not necessary to enter here. Another social reform of tremendous import was also instituted about this time. Liquor and gambling were resorted to by the Arabs on a very large scale, and they suffered from all their attendant evils. The Holy Prophet himself, peace be on him, had never indulged in any of these vices at any time, and some of his Companions had also abstained from them altogether. But as there had been so far no prohibition, many Muslims drank liquor, which sometimes led to very awkward situations. The first admonition tha t was revealed with regard to these two vices was: