And a hadith states:

“Whoever deprives someone of an inheritance, Allah will deprive him of his inheritance in Paradise.”

Accordingly, once his illness has begun, he has no right to deprive her of her inheritance, whether through divorce or otherwise. This remains so even if the divorce takes effect as far as he is concerned, for he may sever his own ties to her, but cannot extinguish her rights against him. According to this view, there is disagreement over the waiting period she must observe: the waiting period for divorce, the waiting period following a husband’s death, or whichever of the two is longer. These are three opinions, the strongest being that she must observe whichever waiting period ends later. Likewise, there are two opinions on whether she becomes entitled to her full dower. The stronger view is that she does, since this is among her rights that become firmly established, just as she becomes entitled to inherit.

He—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:

A man married two women, one Muslim and the other a woman of the People of the Book. He then said, “One of you is divorced,” and died before clarifying whom he meant. Who inherits his estate after him, and which woman must observe the waiting period for divorce?

He replied:

This question requires some distinctions, and scholars disagree about it. Some distinguish between divorcing a particular wife and then forgetting or not knowing her identity, and divorcing an unspecified wife and dying before singling her out by designation or identification.

Some hold that the divorce takes effect for all the wives, as Mālik maintains. Others hold that it takes effect for only one, as the other three imams maintain. If it is assumed that a particular wife was designated, but she has not been identified, should a division be made