Christians, Magians, Buddhists, and others.

The dispute turns on a fundamental question: is kufr (disbelief) a single religion, or does it comprise several distinct religions?

1. The Ḥanafis, the Shāfiʿis, and one reported view within the Ḥanbalī school hold that disbelief is one religion. On this basis, all non-Muslims inherit from one another, even when their individual faiths differ, citing the verse, “The disbelievers are allies of one another” (Qurʾān 8:73). The verse is general, and the Qur’anic passages that grant inheritance to relatives are likewise general, so—according to them—both should remain unrestricted.

2. The Mālikīs maintain that disbelief comprises three religions: Judaism is one, Christianity another, and everything else together a third, on the grounds that the latter have no revealed scripture. Consequently, a Jew may not inherit from a Christian, nor a Christian from a Jew, and neither of them may inherit from an idol-worshipper. Here, the presence or absence of a sacred book is the dividing line between religions.

3. Imām Aḥmad held that disbelief consists of multiple religions; therefore, the followers of each faith do not inherit from those of another. Under this view, the defining criterion is the particular creed itself, irrespective of whether its adherents possess a scripture.

His evidence is the Prophet’s statement: “The followers of two different religions do not inherit from one another.”

This, then, is the weightier opinion, for the ḥadith is an explicit proof regarding inheritance between adherents of two religions. Each faith lacks the mutual allegiance found within another, and they share no common creed; hence they do not inherit from one another, just as Muslims do not inherit from disbelievers. The general Qur’anic texts on inheritance have already been restricted by other qualifiers, so they cannot remain in their absolute sense. The present report, together with legal analogy, therefore specifies the point under discussion.