Reflections on Inheritance for Two Reasons

Inheritance is sometimes by kinship and sometimes through relation by marriage (sabab). However, the Imamiyyah jurists believe that if a dead person has an heir who enjoys two reasons for inheritance, this person can take both of the shares, no matter whether these two or more reasons are relation by marriage or by kinship, or both or all the reasons are either kinship or marriage, provided that none of the reasons is preventing the other. Otherwise, the heir would only inherit based on the reason which prevents other possible reasons. In this paper, an analytical-descriptive method is used to prove that according to the existing evidence, inheritance of the heir for two reasons is specific to those cases in which one reason is relation by marriage and the other is by kinship. However, in cases where both reasons are by kinship, the heir would inherit both shares only in case the relations by kinship are considered as conventionally separate and distinctive.