(1) This Ordinance may be called the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, 1961. (2) It extends to the whole of 1 Bangladesh, and applies to all Muslim citizens of 2 Bangladesh, wherever they may be. (3) It shall come into force on such date as the 3 Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, appoint in this behalf. Definitions 4 2. 4)-Islamic Law of Inheritance (Qanoon-e-Virasat) in The Light of Quran. Duration: 7:56. Dr Israr Ahmed 129,636 views.
Any legal system of succession the fundamentalconsideration is the content to which an individual has the personal right todetermine the de-solution of his property after his death. The dilemma ofinheritance of grandchildren from the pre-deceased child is one of the mostcritical areas of Islamic law. Pakistanbrought a significant change in 1961 by section 4 of the Muslim Family LawsOrdinance (MFLO), which is a milestone event in the history of reformation ofIslamic law. In Bangladeshthe same law has become accepted through the promulgation of the ‘LawsContinuance Enforcement Order, 1971. This law has faced many judicialchallenges in Pakistansince its promulgation.
In Bangladesh,however, it has not been yet focus ofacademic or judicial interpretation. Distributionof remaining estate amongst the heirs according to Sharia It is assumed that thepreliminary issues have been resolved and we shall confine ourselvesprincipally to discussing the fourth and last duty. The task is to firstly,determine which of the relatives of the deceased are entitled to inherit andsecondly, to determine the quantum share entitlement of each of the heirsconcerned.Needless to say Muslims mustfollow all the commandments of Allah (SWT) as Allah the Almighty says, 'Itis not for a believer, man or woman, when Allah and His Messenger have decreeda matter that they should have any opinion in their decision. And whoeverdisobeys Allah and His Messenger, has indeed strayed into a plain error.' Quran 33:36The particular importance ofthe Islamic laws of inheritance is obvious from the verses immediatelyfollowing those verses giving specific details on inheritance shares,'These are limits (set by) Allah (or ordainments as regards laws ofinheritance), and whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger will be admitted toGardens under which rivers flow (in Paradise), to abide therein, and that willbe the great success.And whosoever disobeys Allahand His Messenger, and transgresses His limits, He will cast him into the Fire,to abide therein; and he shall have a disgraceful torment.'
Definition of thedoctrine of representation:- “Principle of Representation” inIslamic Inheritance LawI received the following question via e-mail from someone in Finland whoread one of my posts on the MPACUK Forum. The question is answered herewith forthe benefit of all.QUOTE E-MAILI wanted to ask you a question.The scenario is that a person passes away while his father is still alive. Nowthis person has sons and a daughter of his own by this time.
The person who haspassed away, also has other male and female siblings. Now the question iswhether the sons and daughter of the deceased person still have a share intheir grand father's property and cash assets or are they excluded on thepretext that their father has passed away during their grand father's lifetime?Please feel free to emphasise in detail.END QUOTE.
Because ofthe two fundamental principles of Islamic law of succession,exclusion based onhierarchy of degree and nearness of relationship,under certain circumstance,the predeceased child of a deceased person could not get property under shariahlaw of inheritance. For example, if someone died leaving one son and one sonsson from another predeceased son, then according to the classical shariah lawof inheritance the son will entire property and sons son will be totallyexcluded. Undoubtedly such law causes hardships the to the descendent of thepredeceased children. Inorder of priority intra classes. Thus groups one and two may get the propertyat the same time one after another, since the first group does not exclude thesecond group rather just takes precedence over the other. The heir who isgrouped as distant kindred can succeed only in the absence of the heirs of thefirst two groups except the husband or widow. Thus, each heir of the first twogroups except husband and widow excludes any distant kindred totally.
In otherwords, a distant kindred can not get any property in presence of any sharer oragnatic heir except the husband and widow. This is the basis of exclusion ofthe heirs which forms the first basis of exclusion. This order of priority istotally diminished by section 4 of the MFLO 1961.
Thus under MFLO, even distantkindred, e. Daughter’s son or daughter’s daughter, gets the property withthe heirs of the first and second group. The Holy Qur”an clearlydeclared that “a male receives a shareequal to that of two females; 11 Thus,the son will get double of daughter’s share. It will not be applicable betweenson and son’s daughter, because they do not belong to the same class and theterm ‘walad” used by the Qur”anic verse either mean “child”or “son” s xhils”,but in the same case it can not be used for both the meaning.
However, thisQur”anic principle which forms an important rule of Islamic law of inheritancehas been clearly affected by the provisions of section 4.For example. In the above examples,someone dies leaving 2 son’s sons from his first pre – deceased son and 1 son’s. Sharia treats them equally as each of them gets property in hisindependent capacity. But, the MFLO distributes the property to them as therepresentatives of their deceased father, Thus, interestingly, MFLO has becomediscriminatory towards the sons of the same grade under the similarcircumstance.
Probably, the persons who advocated for making such a rule theyeven could not contemplate of such an anomalous situation, though they alwaystried to portray their report to had been made based on equity and justprinciples. (5).Unnecessary interferenceunder certain circumstances:- There are many cases where the orphanedgrandchildren are not deprived even under sharia law. But, section 4 becomesapplicable everywhere irrespective of their exclusion. For example, if someonedies leaving one daughter and one son’s son. Then according to sharia thedaughter will get ½ as a sharer and the rest ½ will go to the son’s son. ButMFLO modifies it and accordingly, daughter will get 1/3 and the son’s son gets2/3.
There is no logical basis for bringing such a change. (7).Abolishes the originalstatus of the son’s daughter as a share with the impact of reducing the numberof “Qur’anic heirs” (sharers) from 12 to 11:Under MFLO the status of son’s daughter has been changedand now she is always enjoying the status of an agnatic heir representing theson and the gets the residue like the son even in the absence of her malecounterpart. Thus, in no case now the son’s will be treated asa sharer under MFLO, the heir of the first class. Because, section -4generally applied the rule pfrepresentation in case of son’s daughter and so even she is not excluded by theSharia, Still the MFLO will beapplicable and will be confer with her the hypothetical status of her dead father. In practice, by the applicationof section 4 son’s daughter will never get any property as a sharer in her owncapacity. Consequently, the total number of sharer now has become eleven,which is contradictory to the established number of sharers for long as atwelve.
To conclude, it appears that the concept ofrepresentation as has been imported by section 4 of the Muslim Family LawOrdinance, 1961 has in itself intrinsic conflict with Islamic law ofsuccession. It upsets the while structure of islamic law of inheritance. It also violates the ruleof ijtihad, as an ijtihad cannot bedone that results violation of any Qur’anic verse. At the same time, itcreated injustice to others by concentrating justice only to the orphanedgrandchildren. In doing so, it createdmore problems than solution. Unnecessary interference in another great defectof this law as in many cases it provides a new scheme of distribution for theorphaned grandchildren though they were not actually deprived under theexisting sharia law.