The Book Of Inheritance
Chapter One
Introduction: (a) The reasons to make one a heir or heirs are two: 1. Blood relations. 2. Other relations.
The first kind of relatives are of three categories: (a) There are two groups in (a): It consists of (1) the parents but not the grand-parents (2) children male and female and their children as far downwards as they may go. (b) Consists of two groups; (1) the grand-parents both male and female as far as upwards as they may be; (2) the brothers and sisters and their children downwards as far as they may go. (c) There is only one group in this category, namely; they are uncles and aunts even as far upwards as they may go and their children as far downwards as they may go from both parents' sides, provided, they could according to common sense be called relatives of the deceased. The second reason which makes one a heir is of two kinds: The marital and guardianship relationships, and the latter one is of three kinds: (a) The guardianship of a slave-master. (b) The guardianship of a guarantor. (c) The guardianship of IMAM (~S.) the highest spiritual leader. Second Introduction The heirs from another point of view are of five kinds:
(a) Those who receive a specified share of legacy all the time and nothing else such as a wife who receives 1/4 if the deceased has no surviving children and 1/8 if there are surviving children and she does not receive anything besides the specified share. (b) Those who always receive a special share and may also receive additional sums of the legacy like the mother who receives 1/6th the existence of surviving children of the deceased and 1/3 when there is no surviving child for the deceased and no other reasons prevent her from receiving 1/3 of legacy she may also receive additional sums like when the specified shares happen to be more than the payable shares. The husband receives 1/4 with the children of the deceased wife and 1/2 without her children and he receives additional sums when there are no other heirs besides the IMAM (a.s), the highest spiritual leader. (c) Those who inherit a specified sum on one hand and receive additional sums as the relatives of the deceased like the father who receives a specified share when the deceased leaves surviving children and without the children as a relative. A daughter (s) with a son (s) gets her share as a blood relative and without a son she gets a specified share. Sister or sisters from one or both parents with brothers get their share as blood relatives and without them a specified share. Brothers from the mother's side only get a specified share when there is no grandfather from the mother's side and as a blood relative with him. Those who only get a share as blood relatives like the sons of brothers from both parent's sides or only from the father's side and like grand-father and paternal and maternal uncles e Those who get their share not as relatives but as guardians like the slave-master, the guarantor or the Imam (a.s).