or from an apostate. The overwhelming majority of scholars—Companions, Successors, and the jurists of the major centers—held that, on the basis of the authenticated ḥadīth, a Muslim may not inherit from a disbeliever. Muʿādh b. Jabal and Muʿāwiyah among the Companions, together with Saʿīd b. al-Musayyab, Masrūq, and others among the Successors, took the opposite view, holding that a Muslim may inherit from a disbeliever. They likened the matter to marriage, arguing:
“Just as it is lawful for us to marry their women while it is unlawful for us to marry our women to them, so too with inheritance.”
They even cited a musnad ḥadīth in support, but Abū ʿUmar remarked that it is not sound in the judgment of the majority. They also drew an analogy to retaliation in homicide when the parties are not legally equal.

With regard to the property of an apostate who is executed or dies naturally, the majority of the Ḥijāz jurists rule that it belongs to the Muslim community as a whole and that his relatives do not inherit from him; this is the position of Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and—among the Companions—Zayd. Abū Ḥanīfah, al-Thawrī, most Kūfan jurists, and many Basrans maintain that his Muslim heirs do inherit, and this was likewise the view of Ibn Masʿūd and ʿAlī—may Allah be pleased with them both.

The first group relies on the general purport of the ḥadīth, whereas the Ḥanafīs restrict that generality by analogy (qiyās), reasoning that his kin are more entitled than the rest of the Muslims because they combine two causes—Islam and blood-relation—whereas other Muslims share only the bond of Islam. They further reinforce their argument by noting that his wealth retains a quasi-Islamic sanctity: it is not confiscated immediately but remains his until death, which could only be the case if his property still enjoyed inviolability under Islamic law. For that same reason he may not be left unmolested in his apostasy, unlike the original disbeliever.

Al-Shāfiʿī and others say that the property should be used, on his repentance, to make up any missed prayers during the days of apostasy. The opposing party maintains that his wealth is merely held in suspension, out of respect for its Islamic status and in the hope that he will return to Islam, adding that the Muslims’ eventual claim to it is not in the nature of inheritance.

A small minority held, anomalously, that his wealth passes to the Muslims the moment he apostatizes; I believe Ashhab was among those who said so.

[Inheritance among followers of different religions]
All agree that members of the same religion inherit from one another. They differed, however, about inheritance between adherents of different religions. Mālik and a number of scholars held that those of divergent religions—such as Jews and Christians—do not inherit from one another; this was also the view of Aḥmad and others. Al-Shāfiʿī, Abū Ḥanīfah, Abū Thawr, al-Thawrī, Dāʾūd, and others maintained that disbelievers of every sort may mutually inherit.

Shurayḥ, Ibn Abī Laylā, and a group divided the non-inheriting religions into three: (1) Christians, Jews, and Ṣābians; (2) Magians and those with no revealed scripture; and (3) Islam. A report from Ibn Abī Laylā echoes Mālik’s position.

Mālik and those who agree with him base their view on the reliable narration transmitted from ʿAmr b. Shuʿayb, from his father, from his grandfather, that