Glossary of the two ḥadiths

• al-kāfir (disbeliever): Linguistically, kufr means “to cover” and “to deny.” Hence, whoever denies Allah’s favor is said to have committed kufr regarding it. Legally, it is any word, belief, or action by which a person is judged a disbeliever and deemed outside the fold of Islam.
• millatayn: the dual of millah; millah (plural milal) denotes a religion, such as Judaism or Christianity.

Points derived from the two ḥadiths
1 – The soundest opinion among the scholars is that there is no mutual inheritance between a Muslim and a non-Muslim, even when the link is walaʾ (clientage). This is the position of the majority, who cite the present ḥadith as their evidence; it is also the doctrine of the three Imams and the other reported view from Imām Aḥmad. Islam is the strongest of bonds; when this sacred tie is severed between blood relatives, family connections lapse and the power of kinship weakens, so inheritance is withheld. According to the well-known view of the Ḥanbalī school, however, disbelief does not prevent inheritance that is based on walaʾ.
2 – The outward meaning of ḥadith no. 819 is that there is no inheritance between two relatives who follow different non-Muslim religions. Thus, if one is Jewish and the other Christian, they do not inherit from one another because of the divergence in their faiths. A detailed treatment of this dispute will follow, Allah willing.
3 – Both ḥadiths affirm the basic principle of inheritance among relatives, so long as no legal impediment exists.
4 – Disbelief is one of the impediments to inheritance once its cause is present.
5 – The difference between non-Muslim religions itself constitutes an impediment to inheritance among their adherents.
6 – The Islamic creed is a stronger bond than kinship, marriage, or walaʾ; when the creed is lost, the ties of kinship are severed and inheritance between such relatives is barred.

Scholarly disagreement
The scholars have differed over the inheritance of adherents of differing religions—for example, Jews,