Exposing Islam

Post 7: Inheritance and Legal Standing — A Woman Is Worth Half a Man

Subtitle: Qur’anic Law Explicitly Codifies Gender Inequality in Finance and Testimony

The Qur’an and classical Islamic law explicitly declare that a woman’s inheritance share is half that of a man, and her testimony in court counts as half the value of a man’s. These rules are not cultural remnants—they are textually mandated in Islam’s primary sources. While modern apologists attempt to justify or reinterpret these disparities, the verses and rulings speak for themselves, establishing systemic gender inequality under divine authority.

1. Qur’an 4:11 — Inheritance: Clear and Unequal by Design

“Allah commands you regarding your children: the male shall receive the share of two females…”
— Qur’an 4:11

This verse lays out a clear formula:

A son receives double what a daughter receives.
This ratio applies across extended family hierarchies: brothers to sisters, grandsons to granddaughters, etc.

Logical Consequences:

If a man dies leaving one son and one daughter, the son inherits 66.6%, the daughter 33.3%.
If only daughters exist, their share is capped unless no male heirs are present.

This rule is not conditional or culturally contextual. It is presented as a divine mandate — "farīḍah min Allāh" (a decree from Allah).

2. Qur’an 2:282 — Legal Testimony: Two Women = One Man

“…Call two of your men to witness. If two men are not available, then one man and two women… so that if one of the women forgets, the other may remind her.”
— Qur’an 2:282

This verse governs financial contracts, but classical scholars extended the logic to other legal contexts:

In court, a woman’s testimony is worth half that of a man.
In hudud (capital) cases, many scholars do not even accept a woman’s testimony.
In murder trials or religious punishments, the presence of a male witness is often mandatory.

Underlying Assumption:

Women are allegedly more “emotional” or “forgetful,” and therefore need a second woman to validate their account. This is a gender-based epistemological hierarchy with no empirical grounding.

3. The Classical Consensus: Gendered Law as Sacred Norm

All four Sunni schools of law (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, Hanbali) codify these disparities as fixed principles:

Inheritance is always 2:1 unless exceptional cases apply.
Female testimony is always devalued, especially in criminal or religious law.

Sources like Al-Muwatta (Malik), Al-Hidayah (Hanafi), and Ibn Qudamah’s al-Mughni (Hanbali) affirm the above without ambiguity.

In Sharia-based courts today—like those in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, and Nigeria—these rules are enforced unless overridden by secular reform.

4. Modern Muslim Apologetics: Attempts to Justify the Inequality

A. “Men are financial providers.”

This is often cited as the reason for unequal inheritance. Since men must support women financially (Qur’an 4:34), they allegedly need more wealth.

Problem: This argument conflates responsibility with entitlement. Even if men support women, it doesn’t logically follow that women deserve less. Modern reality often reverses this, with many women being primary earners or single providers.

B. “It was progressive for the 7th century.”

Possibly, but the Qur’an is claimed to be eternal and universal, not confined to one era. A divine book cannot be excused for moral inferiority by appealing to the standards of the past.

C. “In some cases, women inherit more.”

Yes, in rare edge cases, a woman may inherit more (e.g., if she’s the only daughter with no male relatives). But these exceptions prove the rule: the norm is still inequality.

5. The Ethical and Logical Consequences

These laws institutionalize male superiority and female dependence.
They entrench economic and legal disadvantage for women, not just personally but generationally.
In practical terms, these verses prohibit legal reform unless one abandons or overrides divine injunctions.

In secular systems based on justice and equality, laws are expected to treat all citizens equally under the law. Islamic law, by contrast, builds discriminatory gender roles into its divine framework.

6. Quranic Gender Inequality Is Not Allegorical or Ambiguous

This isn’t a matter of interpretation or metaphor. The text is explicit:

“The male shall receive the share of two females.” (4:11)
“Two women [witnesses] in place of one man.” (2:282)

These aren’t isolated verses—they form the basis of family law, finance, and jurisprudence in Islamic governance.

Conclusion: Gender Inequality Is Not a Misunderstanding — It’s Doctrine

Islamic inheritance and legal testimony laws are not cultural accidents or misunderstood teachings. They are clearly laid out in the Qur’an and systematically implemented by Islamic jurisprudence.

Any effort to equalize men and women in Sharia-based systems must confront this reality: doing so requires rejecting or reinterpreting the very verses that define the faith’s legal identity.