Inheritance of four brothers and one sister
17-8-2009 | IslamWeb
Question:
As salam alai kum, please advice me on hom much should we each get of the money of property sold its about 77laks INR and we are four brothers and one sister.All are married please help and give us the calculation and the amount each should recive. Jazakallah'Syed
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
You did not clarify to us on which basis you deserve this money whether or not it is an inheritance, and if it is an inheritance, whether you are full brothers and full sister, or brothers and sister from the father’s side only, or from the mother’s side only. In any case, we are going to issue our Fatwa on the basis that it is an inheritance, therefore, if the deceased person is a brother and you are all full brothers and a full sister, or you are all from the father’s side only, then whoever dies and leaves behind four brothers and a sister and he did not leave any other heir –like a father, a mother, a wife, a son or a daughter –then his inheritance should be divided between his brothers and sister, the male twice the share of the female, as Allaah Says (what means): {…if there are brothers and sisters, the male will have twice the share of the female.}[Quran 4:176]
Therefore, the inheritance (which is the amount which you mentioned in the question) should be divided into 9 shares, each brother gets two shares and the daughter gets one share. If they are all brothers and sister from the mother’s side only, then they get one-third as a fixed share divided equally amongst them in addition to the whole remaining inheritance (as there is no other heir), hence the money should be divided into 5 equal shares, each brother gets one share and the sister gets also one share. In case the sister is a full sister, and the brothers are from the father’s side only, then the sister gets half of the money as her fixed share and the remaining inheritance will be equally divided amongst the brothers who are from the father’s side only because there is no other heir. However, there are other probabilities which we did not discuss here, but it should be noted that the matter of inheritance is very complex an issue, so a mere Fatwa which is an answer issued according to the question is not enough. Rather, the matter should be taken to an Islamic court to look into the case, or it should be presented orally (in person) to the scholars in case there are no Islamic courts. It might be that there is an heir who would not be known except after investigation, and there might also be a will, debts, or other dues that are not known to the heirs. It is known that these rights come in priority over the right of the heirs. Therefore, the inheritance should not be divided without resorting to an Islamic court, if any, in order to fulfil the interests of the dead and the live people.
Allaah Knows best.