#877: Ruling on Inheriting Wealth that was gotten from Harām Source

877. QUESTION:

‘As salamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakaatuh ya sheik ya baaba..
I have a question sir.. If a father earns wealth and property through haram and he dies, so the child inherits it…does the children’s money becomes halal…”

ANSWER:

Wa Alaykum Salām Warahmatullāh Wabarakātuh

Alhamdulillāh!

Know, may Allāh be merciful to you that the majority of the Ulamā have upheld that inheritance does not make a Harām wealth to become Halāl since inheritance is done by way of transfer of ownership by virtue of rightful possession at the time of death. This is very clear. It is the stronger position in the Hanafī, Mālikī, Shāfi’ī and Hanbalī Schools, and the dominant view in the Dhāhiriyyah School also.

Ibn Rushd said in the Muqaddimāt:

“As for inheritance, it does not make sure a Wealth that was Harām. This is the sound position that is arrived at by way of contemplation. And it has been narrated from some of the Predecessors that he considered inheritance a purification for the one that Inherits. But that is wrong.”

A similar statement was made by Ibn ‘Ābidīn Al-Hanafī in Al-Hāshiyah, An-Nawawī in Al-Majmū’, Al-Mardāwī in Al-Insāf and very many others.

If it is said, what is to be done with the wealth?
It is Obligatory to return the wealth to it’s rightful owners if they are known, and to do so with apologies. And this is one thing that is hoped will bring repreive to the dead parent.

If the owner of the wealth is not known, then the wealth is to be returned back to Allāh. Allāh has established to us that He is the ultimate owner of all wealth and we are only given by way of His magnanimity. If then the owner of the wealth is not known, it is returned to the Original and Ultimate Owner of it and that is Allāh. And because the Poor are the most in need of Allāh’s wealth, the majority of the Ulamā commanded that such wealth be given as Sadaqah or returned to the Baytu Al-Māl (Public Treasure) of the Muslim Ummah if they have one.

If it is not the entire wealth that is Harām and what is Harām of it has mixed with what is not, then by way of estimation, the Inheritors must take out the value of what they consider to be Harām of the wealth and treat it as such, and Allāh knows best.

Let people fear Allāh and do the right thing.

Bārakallāhu Fīkum
Jazakumullāhu Khayran

Abū Āsim

27th Rabīu Al-Awwal, 1441AH

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