Chapter on the Inheritance of Adherents of Different Religions

There is no mutual inheritance1 between people whose religions differ, except through the bond of walāʾ (patronage). By virtue of that bond a Muslim may inherit from a non-Muslim and a non-Muslim from a Muslim. Likewise, a non-Muslim—even an apostate—may inherit provided he embraces Islam before the estate of his Muslim relative is distributed2.

Disbelievers belong to various creeds and, when those creeds differ, they do not inherit from one another. If, however, their creeds coincide3 and the other legal causes of inheritance are present, they may inherit from one another, even if one is a dhimmī (a non-Muslim subject under Muslim rule) and the other a ḥarbī (a belligerent non-Muslim), or one is a mustaʾmin (a non-Muslim under temporary safe-conduct) while the other is a dhimmī or ḥarbī.

Anyone whom the law judges to be an unbeliever—be he a heretical innovator, an apostate, or a zindīq (crypto-heretic), that is, a hypocrite—his property4 is treated as fayʾ (state booty); he neither inherits nor is inherited from.

A Magian (Zoroastrian) and those comparable to him inherit through all degrees of kinship. Thus, if he leaves behind his mother, who at the same time is his half-sister through his father, she receives one-third as his mother and one-half as his sister.