His Muslim Father Does Not Believe in the Last Day, in the Angels, in Paradise and Hell
Fatwa No: 450547

Question

My family is a muslim family for generations. But somehow my fathers beliefs were corrupted. He doesn’t believe in the day of resurrection or judgment, angels, hell, paradise and he doesn’t property believe in Hadith of our prophet (May blessings and peace be upon him), he prays salah at his ease and follow the rules of Allah as he like. He does not want to believe in 5 times obligatory prayer as he does not pray fazr Salat. He thinks there is nothing after death. Now My father has two sons, me and my brother. My mother is alive. Now, According to hadith, a muslim can not inherit from a non muslim, but my father wishes for us to take control of all his properties equally after his death. Therefore, Can we inherit from my father?

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

If it is proven beyond any possibility of doubt or misinterpretation that your father does not believe in the Last Day, nor in the Angels, nor in Paradise and Hell, then he is a non-Muslim and apostate, even if he claims that he is a Muslim.

If he dies in this condition, he is not washed, no funeral prayer is to be performed on him, he is not buried in Muslim cemeteries, and his Muslim relative does not inherit him.

The Prophet said: “The Muslim does not inherit a non-Muslim, and the non-Muslim does not inherit the Muslim.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

As regards his wealth, there is a difference of opinion among the jurists regarding the wealth of an apostate if he dies while adhering to apostasy. There are three views:

1 – All his wealth goes to Bayt-ul-Maal (Muslim public treasury), and this is the view of Imams Malik, Ash-Shafi’i, and Ahmad.

2 – His wealth goes to his Muslim heirs, whether he earned it during his Islam or apostasy, and this is the view of Abu Yoosuf and Muhammad (the two companions of Abu Haneefah).

3 – The wealth he earned as a Muslim goes to his Muslim heirs, and what he earned as an apostate goes to Bayt-ul-Maal, and this is the view of Abu Haneefah.” [End of quote]

The view that we adopt here at Islamweb is the first view and that if the state does not do its obligation with regard to the money of the treasury and transgresses the limits of Allah in it, then there is no objection to the heirs to adopt the second opinion which says that the apostate’s money should be divided among his Muslim relatives, for his Muslim relatives are more deserving of his money than the state spending it in corruption and unjustly.

In this case, they divide it according to the Sharee’ah, and not according to what he commanded that the share of the male and female of the heirs be equal.

Finally, what we advise you to do is to first make sure about the disbelief that you attributed to your father, and if it comes out that this is true, then strive hard to invite him to Islam, perhaps you will be a reason to save him from Hellfire.

His guidance should be your prime concern rather than thinking about how to divide his wealth after his death.

For more benefit on how the wealth of a Muslim should be divided if he dies as an apostate, please refer to Fatwa 433279.

Allah knows best.

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