Five entitlements are attached to a deceased person’s estate.

1. The first charge is the cost of preparing the body: the price of the shroud, the expense of washing, and the fee for digging the grave.
2. Next, any debts are paid, whether they are owed to Allah—such as zakah, expiations, vows, and an obligatory pilgrimage—or owed to human beings.
3. After that, the deceased’s bequests are executed, provided they do not exceed one-third of the estate.
4. What remains is then divided among the heirs in the manner ordained by Allah: the holders of fixed shares (aṣḥāb al-furūḍ) receive their portions first; if anything is left over, it passes to the agnatic relatives (al-ʿaṣabah), as will be explained later.

It is impermissible to alter the laws of inheritance from their divinely legislated form; doing so constitutes disbelief in Allah. The Exalted says: “These are the limits set by Allah. Whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, He will admit him into gardens beneath which rivers flow, to abide therein forever—that is the supreme triumph. But whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger and transgresses His limits, He will admit him into a Fire, therein to abide, and he will have a humiliating punishment” (Q 4:13-14).

Imam al-Shawkānī (d. 1250 AH) comments in his exegesis: “The pronoun ‘these’ refers to the preceding rulings—namely, those concerning inheritance. He called them ‘limits’ because they may not be overstepped nor is it permissible to transgress them. The phrase ‘whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger’ applies to the distribution of inheritance and to all other legal rulings, as indicated by the general wording, ‘He will admit him into gardens beneath which rivers flow…’” He further relates that Ibn Mājah recorded, on the authority of Anas, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Whoever deprives an heir of his share, Allah will deprive him of his share of Paradise on the Day of Resurrection.”