Therefore, Muslims must rise to revive this science and safeguard it in their mosques, schools, and universities, for they are in dire need of it and will be questioned about it.

It is firmly established that the Prophet said, “Knowledge is three, and whatever lies beyond that is excess: a decisive verse, a sound sunnah, and a just farīḍah (obligatory share).”

ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him—remarked, “Learn the laws of inheritance, for they are part of your religion,” and ʿAbd Allāh said, “Whoever has learned the Quran should also learn the laws of inheritance.”

As for the Prophet’s statement that the farāʾiḍ constitute “half of all knowledge,” the explanation is as follows: a person passes through two states—life and death. The farāʾiḍ encompass most of the rulings that pertain to death, while the remainder of the Sharia addresses the affairs of the living. Some have said it is deemed half of knowledge because everyone, without exception, needs it. Other interpretations have been offered as well, yet the essential point is that the hadith directs us to give this discipline great attention.

This branch of learning is called al-farāʾiḍ, the plural of farīḍah, derived from farḍ (determination), for the heirs’ portions are precisely determined. A farīḍah is a legally fixed share granted to its rightful recipient, and the science of al-farāʾiḍ is the knowledge of dividing estates, encompassing both the jurisprudential rulings and the arithmetic required to effect that division.