Legislation Between Bequest and Inheritance
Formulating the claim
Qur’anic legislation in the family begins with bequest and then moves to inheritance, with its regulation by reason, law, and custom, not by the traditional reading alone.
Why are these elements brought together?
This axis gathers everything related to inheritance, bequest, divorce, and lineage, that is, the legal structure of the family in Shahrur’s reading. It links the arrangement of the verses to the principle that bequest is the primary origin, while inheritance comes later as a general law. The concept of justice here also does not mean emotional equality, but a disciplined legal equivalence. Included within it are custom, testimony, and the regulation of lineage and divorce as instruments of social control.
Elements of the cluster
- The solemn covenant is not merely a contract
- Bequest is the first option, and justice in it is specific
- The Qur’anic order begins with bequest and then inheritance
- The verse “God enjoins upon you” addresses the absence of a person’s bequest
- Inheritance is a general law applied to everyone
- The inheritance verse includes one-half, two-thirds, and one-third within a single framework
- The child in the verse includes both male and female
- The female is the basis in calculating inheritance
- “To the male, the share of two females” means a general mathematical standard
- “To the male, the share of two females” is conditioned by the proportion of children
- The disabled or weak child has his or her condition taken into account through bequest, not inheritance
- The grandchild does not inherit under the general rule according to Shahrur
- Brothers and sisters do not inherit except in the case of kalala
- Legal custom and testimony are necessary for organizing lineage and personal status
- The biological father is not the same as the educational father
- Parents are those who raised [the child], not merely the biological parents
- Ba’l is different from husband in Qur’anic usage
- The second wife does not inherit in polygamy
- Polygamy is linked to orphans, not desire
- The verse of the orphans is connected to protecting the vulnerable offspring
- In the Muhammadan message, woman has the right to request divorce
- In the Muhammadan message, divorce became a right first held by the man
- Divorce does not occur all at once, but through stages
- Divorce is only twice in the Qur’anic course
- The four-month period is a mandatory stage before divorce
- The waiting period after the first divorce is tied to the possibility of return and pregnancy
- The three steps are not physical beating
Placement of the cluster in the episodes
In episodes 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
Summary
Shahrur reconstructs family jurisprudence on the basis of bequest and legal justice, not on the basis of the traditional juristic understanding alone.