44. Caliph was the founder of preference (Awl)1 in inheritance
It is narrated from Ibne Abbas that:
“Umar bin Khattab was the first to establish ‘Awl’ in obligations. When the
division of heirloom was difficult for him as stipulated by Quran and dispute
arose among the heirs, he said: ‘By God, I don’t know which of you Almighty
Allah has preferred and which of you He has deferred.’ Being a man of piety, he
said: ‘The best thing for me is to distribute according to shares and then divide
the deficiency from all shareholders equally.’”
It is narrated from Ubaidullah bin Abdullah bin Utbah bin Masud that:
“I and Zafar bin Aws bin Hadsan met Ibne Abbas after he has lost his
eyesight, and discussed with him rules of inheritance. Ibne Abbas said: “In your
view one, who knows the number of particles of sand, regarding wealth half and
half and one-third has not calculated and it half and half goes away then where is
place of the third?”2
Zafar asked Ibne Abbas: “O Ibne Abbas, who was the first one to include
‘Awl’ in inheritance and applied the deficiency to all heirs? Ibne Abbas replied:
“Umar bin Khattab.” He asked: “Why?”
He replied: “When distribution of inheritance became difficult and they
wanted him to adjudicate, he said: “By God, I don’t know what to do. By God, I
don’t know, which of you should I prefer and which of you should I defer.” On
the basis of this, he said: “Thus, it is better that I should equally distribute the
deficiency among all heirs.”
At that moment, Ibne Abbas said: “By God, if you had preferred someone
that Allah preferred and deferred one that Allah deferred, the obligation of ‘Awl’
would never have arisen.”
Zafar said: “Which one has Allah preferred and which one has He
deferred?”
Ibne Abbas replied: “Every obligation that does not disappears, on the
contrary it is transformed into another obligation is like the case of Almighty
Allah preferring (Quranic share) of the husband, which is half the heirloom and
in case of the presence of a son, it is changed into one-fourth and he does not get
less than that.
Also the share of the wife, which is one-fourth and in case the deceased does
not have a son, it will change into one-eighth and it does not become lesser than
that.
And the share of two or more sisters is two-third and share of one sister is one-half. Now, the presence of sisters besides them, the residue from them
[daughters] will reach them. And these [sisters] are those whom Almighty Allah
had deferred; thus if the beginning of the share of one, whose share Allah has
advanced [husband, wife and sister], is paid and after that the residue is
distributed among those, whose share Allah had deferred [like daughters in the
above example] no need of ‘Awl’ will arise.
Zafar asked Ibne Abbas: “Then why didn’t you mention it to Umar?”
Ibne Abbas replied: “By God, I feared.”3
In Awail of Suyuti and his Tarikh, and Mahazirtus Saktawari, it is
mentioned that:4
“Umar was the first to believe in ‘Awl’ in obligations [and in case of
deficiency, he distributed it equally among heirs].
Amini says: What should I say after the statement of Caliph that:
“By God, I don’t know what to do. By God, I don’t know, which of you
Allah has preferred and which of you, He has deferred.”
After the statement of Ibne Abbas that: “By God, if he had preferred one that
Allah has preferred and deferred one that Allah deferred, no need was there for
‘Awl’.
Now, inspite of the fact that he himself admits that he is unaware of correct
solution, how did he deliver a verdict based on his personal opinion?
Whereas, he himself said in a sermon: “Know that those, who believe in
validity of personal deduction are enemies of Sunnah. They are unable to
memorize traditions; that is why they deliver verdict on the basis of their personal
opinion and as a result of that they have become misguided and misguided others.
Know that we only emulate and we do not begin delivering verdicts; we follow,
but we don’t start heresies and as long as we remain attached to Sunnah and
traditional reports, we shall not be misguided.”5
Is this following and emulation or it is an innovation and heresy [emulation
and following one’s own opinion].
How was it lawful for the Caliph to be unaware of religious obligations
whereas he himself says:
“No unawareness and ignorance is more disliked by Allah and more harmful
than foolishness and unawareness of imam and Caliph.”?6
How before gaining proficiency in religion he can sat on the seat of
judgment and issue verdicts, whereas he himself says: “Before accepting a responsibility, get awareness and its proficiency.”7