Islamic Inheritance Calculator for UK Muslims

What the calculator does

Faraid is arithmetic with strict rules attached. The hard part is not the fractions themselves but knowing which heirs are excluded by others, what happens when the fractions overshoot the estate, and where the four madhabs disagree. The calculator handles those three problems explicitly rather than leaving them to you.

• Fixed shares (Dhul-Furud) — assigns each entitled heir the fraction set out in Surah An-Nisa.
• Residuary heirs (Asabah) — passes the remainder to the residuary heirs in the correct order of priority.
• Exclusion (Hajb) — removes heirs blocked by a nearer relative, and names who blocked them and why.
• Awl — reduces every share proportionally when the fixed shares exceed the estate.
• Radd — returns the surplus when the fixed shares do not use up the estate and there is no residuary heir.
• Madhab differences — applies the rule of the school you selected wherever the schools genuinely differ.

What is Faraid?

Faraid (الفرائض, al-farā’iḍ) is the Islamic law of inheritance: the set of fixed shares the Qur’an assigns to specific relatives of a deceased Muslim. The word means “the ordained portions”. Unlike a bequest, these shares are not chosen — they are prescribed.

The three foundational passages are Surah An-Nisa 4:11 (children and parents), 4:12 (spouses and maternal siblings) and 4:176 (full and paternal siblings). Classical jurists built the working system — exclusion, residuary succession, Awl and Radd — on top of those verses.

For the concepts in full — what the word means, the three categories of heir and the core vocabulary — see what Faraid is. For the fractions each relative receives, see Islamic inheritance shares explained.

What comes out of the estate before Faraid

Faraid applies to what is left after prior claims, in this order:

1. Funeral expenses — reasonable burial costs.
2. Debts — all outstanding debts, paid in full before any heir receives anything.
3. Wasiyyah — a bequest of up to one third of the remaining estate, and only to someone who is not already a Faraid heir.
4. Faraid — the remainder is distributed among the entitled heirs.

The calculator enforces the one-third wasiyyah ceiling rather than silently distributing an invalid estate. See writing an Islamic will (Wasiyyah) in the UK.

Fixed shares (Dhul-Furud)

These are the heirs the Qur’an gives a named fraction to. The fraction usually depends on whether the deceased left children.

This table is a summary. Several of these shares shift with the exact combination of heirs present — which is the reason to run the calculation rather than read off a table.

Asabah: the residuary heirs

After every fixed share is paid, whatever remains goes to the Asabah — the residuary heirs, taken in a fixed order of priority. Sons come first, then the father, then the grandfather, then full brothers, then paternal half-brothers, and so on outward.

Two consequences matter in practice. Where there is a son, the residue is usually large and the fixed-share heirs take only their named fractions. Where there is no male residuary heir at all, the fixed shares may not use up the estate — which is where Radd comes in.

Hajb: who is excluded, and by whom

Hajb is exclusion. A nearer relative can remove a more distant one from the estate entirely, or reduce their share. A son excludes the deceased’s brothers and sisters. A father excludes the grandfather. Any child excludes maternal half-siblings.

This is the most common source of error in hand calculations, because an excluded heir is easy to include by mistake. The calculator marks excluded heirs explicitly and names the relative who blocked them, rather than dropping them from the result without explanation.

Awl and Radd

Awl — when the shares exceed the estate

Some heir combinations produce fixed shares totalling more than one whole. The classical solution, established in the time of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, is not to drop an heir but to raise the denominator so that every share is reduced in proportion. A husband (1/2) with two full sisters (2/3) needs 7/6 of the estate; under Awl the denominator moves from 6 to 7, so the husband takes 3/7 and the sisters take 4/7 between them.

Radd — when the shares leave a surplus

The reverse case: the fixed shares do not use up the estate and there is no residuary heir to absorb the remainder. The surplus is returned to the fixed-share heirs in proportion to their shares. The schools differ over whether a surviving spouse shares in that return, which is one of the places your madhab choice changes the answer.

The four madhabs in the calculator

On the great majority of estates all four Sunni schools produce the same distribution. The differences are real but narrow, and they cluster around a few recurring cases.

If you are unsure which school applies to you, the practical answer is usually the one your family and local mosque follow. Our guide on how the four madhabs differ on Faraid works the same family through each school so you can see the effect before choosing.

What you enter

1. The deceased — name and gender. Gender determines whether the spouse is a husband or a wife, which changes the fraction.
2. Estate — gross value, funeral costs and outstanding debts, in pounds sterling.
3. Heirs — each surviving relative and how many, across five groups: spouse, children, parents, grandparents and siblings.
4. Wasiyyah — any bequest, capped at one third. A bequest to an heir does not take effect without the other heirs’ consent after the testator’s death.
5. Madhab — Hanafi, Shafi‘i, Maliki or Hanbali.

The heirs the calculator accepts are: husband or wife; son and daughter; father and mother; grandfather and grandmother; and the six sibling categories — full brother, full sister, paternal half-brother, paternal half-sister, maternal half-brother and maternal half-sister.

What you get back

• Each heir’s share as a fraction, a percentage and a monetary amount.
• The Quranic or Sunnah basis for every share.
• Any heir excluded by Hajb, named alongside the relative who excluded them.
• Whether Awl or Radd was applied, and its effect on the denominator.
• The deductions taken before distribution: funeral costs, debts and wasiyyah.
• The madhab the distribution was produced under.

All of the above is free. The optional £29 Solicitor Instruction Letter packages the same result as a document a UK solicitor can draft from.

What the calculator does not do

Stating the limits plainly is more useful than overstating the coverage. This tool does not:

• Handle every heir. Grandchildren through a son, paternal uncles, nephews and more distant residuary heirs are not selectable. Estates involving them need a qualified scholar.
• Cover Shia (Ja‘fari) inheritance. The four supported schools are Sunni. Ja‘fari Faraid orders heirs differently and is not implemented.
• Decide contested or unusual questions — a missing heir, simultaneous deaths, an unborn child, an heir who is not Muslim, adoption, or disputed paternity. These are matters for a scholar, not a calculator.
• Value your estate. It works from the figures you enter. Property valuation, pension death benefits, life insurance written in trust and jointly-held assets all need checking before the number is right — see jointly-owned property and Islamic inheritance.
• Calculate Inheritance Tax. UK IHT is assessed separately and can change what heirs actually receive.
• Make anything legally binding. A calculation has no legal force on its own — see below.

Faraid and UK inheritance law

England and Wales do not apply Faraid. If a Muslim dies without a valid will, the estate is distributed under the statutory intestacy rules, which follow an entirely different order — typically giving a surviving spouse far more than Faraid would, and parents and siblings far less or nothing at all. The statutory position is set out on GOV.UK: who inherits if someone dies without a will.

The only reliable way to have Faraid shares applied in England and Wales is a valid will, executed under the Wills Act 1837 and drafted by a solicitor. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules and are not covered by the guidance on this page.

Two further points are worth knowing before relying on any calculation. Property held as joint tenants passes automatically to the survivor and never enters the estate. And the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 allows certain people to claim against an estate even where a will is valid. Both can change the practical outcome. See Faraid vs UK intestacy and UK intestacy rules for Muslim families.

The £29 Solicitor Instruction Letter

The calculation is free. The optional paid item is a five-page PDF written for a UK solicitor to draft from, charged once per case. It contains:

• Suggested Gift of Residue clause wording, with each heir’s fraction in words, as a percentage and as an amount.
• The Quranic basis for every share, and the madhab the distribution was produced under.
• Wasiyyah instructions, where you entered one.
• Drafting notes for the solicitor: executor appointment, STEP provisions, a flag for minor heirs, and Wills Act 1837 execution requirements.

What it is not: it is not a will, and it has no legal effect by itself. The solicitor adapts the residue clause into a will and executes it properly. What the solicitor still has to do — verify the heirs, value the estate, advise on IHT and the 1975 Act, and execute the will — remains their work, not ours.

Full detail on the report — what each section contains, what it is not, and what your solicitor still has to do — is on the Solicitor Instruction Letter page. Solicitors themselves can read how Mizaanly works for solicitors, or view a sample document.

Common questions

Is the Islamic inheritance calculator free?

Yes. The full Faraid calculation is free, including every heir’s share, the Quranic basis for each one, and any Awl or Radd adjustment. A free account is needed to save results. The only paid item is the optional £29 Solicitor Instruction Letter PDF, charged once per case.

Which madhabs does the calculator support?

All four Sunni schools — Hanafi, Shafi‘i, Maliki and Hanbali. You select the madhab before the distribution is produced. It changes the result only where the schools genuinely differ, principally Radd and the grandfather-with-siblings cases.

Which heirs can it handle?

Spouse, sons and daughters, father and mother, grandfather and grandmother, and all six sibling categories. Grandchildren through a son, paternal uncles and more distant residuary heirs are not currently selectable and need a qualified scholar.

Does it apply Awl and Radd?

Yes. Awl reduces every share proportionally where the fixed shares exceed the estate. Radd returns the surplus to the fixed-share heirs where the shares fall short and there is no residuary heir, following the rule of the madhab you chose.

Does this replace a UK will?

No. England and Wales do not apply Faraid automatically, and a calculation has no legal effect on its own. Making the distribution binding requires a valid will executed under the Wills Act 1837 and drafted by a UK-regulated solicitor.

How accurate is it?

The engine applies classical Faraid rules and runs each result through an independent validation layer before it is displayed. It is still a tool, and it works only from what you enter. For an unusual family situation, have the result checked by a qualified scholar in your madhab.