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Inheritance between a Muslim and his relative who belongs to the Bohra sect

Question

Salam alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu I'd like to know if Bohras (who are basically shias) can be given their part of inheritance from us or not? Because all of my extended family members are Bohras.. its just me and my parents who alhamdulillah changed to the sunnah way of Islam about 30 yrs ago. I know that in Islam, Kafirs cannot be given inheritance nor we can receive any part of it from them, but I'm not sure if Dawoodi bohras fall into the Kafir category as they are a branch of Shias. So please clarify this issue for me. Jazakallah khairun.

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and messenger.

We have previously highlighted the un-Islamic beliefs and esoteric (Baatiniyyah) interpretations of the Bohras in Fatwa 89255.

As for the inheritance of a person who hold such esoteric beliefs and doctrines that contradict Islam, he is considered a non-Muslim; such an act takes him out of the fold of Islam. Therefore, he is not entitled to inherit from his Muslim relatives and they do not inherit from him as well because disparity in religion is one of the impediments of inheritance. A Muslim cannot inherit from a non-Muslim relative nor can a non-Muslim inherit from his Muslim relative. Usaamah ibn Zayd  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him reported that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “A Muslim is not allowed to inherit (anything from a) non-Muslim and a non-Muslim is not allowed to inherit from a Muslim”. [Al-Bukhari, Muslim and others]

Allaah Knows best.

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