Hanafi
The Hanafi school traces its reasoning back to Imam Abu Hanifa and is systematized in the classical treatise As-Sirajiyyah fi'l-Mirath. A distinctive feature of Hanafi reasoning is how strictly it applies the principle that a closer-degree relative excludes a more distant one from inheriting at all, rather than letting them share the estate together.
How It Differs
Where the Shafi'i, Maliki, and Hanbali schools let a surviving sister or brother inherit alongside a paternal grandfather, Hanafi fiqh does not: the grandfather, standing in for an absent father, totally excludes those siblings from inheriting anything at all while he is alive. This is one of the clearest points on which Hanafi stands apart from the other three Sunni schools.
A Worked Example
A man dies leaving his paternal grandfather and two full sisters, with no surviving father.
Under Hanafi fiqh, the grandfather takes the entire estate as the nearest residuary heir. The two sisters receive nothing, because a true grandfather's presence entirely excludes full and consanguine siblings when no father survives.
Source: Muhammad Jawad Mughniyya, Al-Fiqh 'ala al-Madhahib al-Khamsa; corroborated by SunnahOnline.com's summary of the Islamic laws of inheritance.
This page offers general educational information, not a personalized legal or religious ruling. Please consult a qualified scholar and legal advisor before acting on it.
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