Chapter on the Inheritance of a Killer, of the Partially-Free Slave, and of Walaʾ¹

Whoever—without lawful justification—kills the person from whom he stands to inherit, whether he does so alone or in partnership, directly or by instigation, is barred from the estate so long as retaliatory execution (qiṣāṣ), blood money (diya), or an expiation is due for the act; the ruling is the same for the legally competent and the incompetent.

If, however, the killing is lawful—carried out as qisāṣ, as a prescribed hadd penalty, for apostasy, in quelling rebellion, in self-defence against an armed aggressor, in suppressing highway robbery, pursuant to the heir’s own testimony, or when a combatant on the just side kills a rebel (and vice versa)—the killer remains entitled to inherit.

A slave neither inherits nor may others inherit through him. A person who is partly free both inherits and can be inherited from, and he excludes other heirs in proportion to the free share of his person. Whoever emancipates a slave acquires walaʾ (the bond of allegiance) over the freedman, even if their religions differ.

Women do not inherit by walaʾ except with respect to those whom they themselves have set free, or those freed by someone they had previously emancipated.