God Almighty forwarded word “will” or “legacies” to “debt” in the clause “after payment of legacies and debts” despite the fact that paying off debts actually precedes fulfilling the will in order to stress on its significance and fulfillment.
Wills could most probably be neglected or hidden because they are uncompensated money and people find it hard to give it away. Hence came these orders eloquently to urge people to respect wills and fulfill them by forwarding the word “will” to “debt” in the four clauses to shed light on its moral importance and significance.
Imam Al Zamakhshary explained this meaning in Al-kashaf saying: “If I was asked why the word “will” is forwarded to “debt” in the verse despite the fact that shari’ah stipulates paying debts off first, I would say that giving.
“Will” is usually just like giving a share of the legacy for free. Hence come the hardship of fulfilling it on part of the inheritors. Unlike a debt which they most readily pay because it is money that have been taken before. God forwarded the word “will” to “debt” to remind of its importance and urge people to fulfill it as they pay off debt.
The clause “so that no loss is caused (to any one)” is a prohibition for a person to do harm to his/her inheritors through the will or leaving them in heavy debt. Doing harm to the inheritors through the will of the deceased happens when his/her disposes of more or less than one third of his/her fortune away with the intention of decreasing the share of the inheritors of the legacy or depriving them totally of inheritance. Al-Nissa’i related that Ibn Abbas narrated: “The Prophet (pbuh) says: “Doing harm through a will is one of the deadly sins.” Qitabah said:
“God hates doing harm in life and after death. He Almighty forbade it.” Doing ham to the inheritors through debt occurs when a person falsely states that s/he is indebted to another in order to deprive the inheritors from legacy. Or else s/he might falsely state that s/he has their loaned money/item paid back so that the inheritors would not be able to retrieve them.
God Almighty mention the clause “so that no loss is caused (to any one)” after specifying the portion given of brothers and sisters of the deceased in the inheritance in order to stress on giving them their rights. For some people almost neglect the share of the brothers and sisters to the share of the mother of the deceased till the present day.
The clause “Thus it is ordained by God” asserts the imperativeness of dividing the inheritance the same way God ordained and revealed in the Glorious Qur’an. The clause denotes that this divine will is obligatory, whoever violates it deserves God’s punishment.
The clause “God is All-Knowing, Most Forbearing” is a conclusion that aims to raise heart on piety to God Who is Well-Aware of its hidden secrets and Who is Lenient and never hastening to punish the sinners.
The clause "God is All-Knowing, Most Forbearing" is a conclusion that aims to raise hearts on piety to God Who is Well-Aware of its hid¬den' secrets and Who is Lenient and never hastening to punish the sin¬ners; tarrying but never unfair.
Scholars extracted from these two verses a group of legislations which when applied - will lead to welfare, justice, security and good life of the na¬tion and all its members- males and females. These legislations include: The most sound arrangement of the inheritors is given in the two verses. The fist verse lists the inheritors start¬ing" from parental and. fraternal lineage which em¬bodies, the closest kind of relationships among human beings.
The second verse specified spou¬sal inheritance which comes second to parental and fraternal inheritance because the first two reinitiated through a blood relationship where¬as the latter is caused by a marriage agreement that could be annulled any moment. Then this verse moved on to speak about inheritance through /kalalah/ which is a weaker form of kinship than the above two forms. In /kalalah/ in¬heritance is begotten through indirect kinship.
Second, accordingly, it is evident that inheritors are divinely arranged in these two verses. This, arrangement is one which the Creator has made rather than any, human, being. It aims to render good the life of human beings. On 'earth because God is Well-Aware and Knowledgeable of their interests and He is the Wise in all His deeds and ac¬tions.
God reinforced the necessity of conforming to His legislations with regards to dividing inheritance by starting the two verses with the clause "God (thus) directs you". The word "ordained" as indicated above- denotes giving directions to others as regards the things they should.
This is to be done in wise and convincing advice. God warned people against hes¬itating about the application of these legislations. He Almighty said : "Ye know not whether your parents or your children are nearest to you in benefit. These are settled portions ordained by God; and God is All-knowing, All ¬Wise;"
Third, those above two verses clearly declared that the portion given to males in the inheritance is dou¬ble that of females in most cases. The word 'most' is used because there are some examples when both the male and the female have equal portions of the inheritance. For example when the inheritors are the two parents and a son, or two parents and two daughters or more, the mother's portion in this case would be equal to that of the father. For both of them would have one sixth of the inheritance as stipulated in the verse: "For parent, a sixth share of the inheritance to each, If the de-ceased left children".
The same case applies when there are brothers and sisters to the moth¬er of the deceased. All of them would equally share one third of the inheritance. This one third is to be divided justly a male's portion is as much as that of a female, unless more lineal kinship that precedes them in the inheritance hier¬archy. This rule has been indicated in the second verse: "If the man or a woman whose inheritance is in ques¬tion, has left neither ascendants nor descendants, but has left a brother or a sister, each one of the two gets a sixth; but if more than two, they share in a third". This rule has been duly referred to before in the ex¬planation of the two noble verses.
Fourth, the Islamic legislation which is stipulated in the clause "God (thus) directs you as regards your children’s (inheritance) to the male, a portion of two females" represents sheer justices and wisdom. This legislation has been based on consideration the social, financial and economic responsibilities Islam has made incumbent on a man in comparison to those of a woman. Within Islamic legislation, the man is the bread winner. He is ordered to support and sustain all the members of the family including the wife. Whereas the Woman is exempted from many Of the financial re¬sponsibilities that a man shoulders. A man is the one who pays the dowry in marriage and shoulders the financial responsibilities of the family. It is only within Islamic legislation that the wife as the right to keep intact all her money and possessions. Islamic legislation does not ordain a wife to spend any of her private mon¬ey or on the family, unless she -willingly- volunteers to help her husband with his responsibilities.
Thus we do see that Islamic legisla¬tion is primarily based on justice in stipulating a double portion of the in¬heritance to the male, giving the woman half his portion because supporting the family and the burden of breadwinning in Islam lies on the man rather than the women.
