Analysis and Critique of the Opinions of Imamiyah Jurists Regarding the Inheritance of the Wife as a Unique Heir

ROSTAMI, MOHAMMAD HADI; ROSTAMI, MOHAMMAD Zaman

doi:10.30497/flj.2025.247545.2128

Analysis and Critique of the Opinions of Imamiyah Jurists Regarding the Inheritance of the Wife as a Unique Heir

Document Type : Scholarly Article

Authors

¹ Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Jurisprudence and Law, Faculty of Islamic Sciences and Research, Imam Khomeini International University (RA), Qazvin, Iran

² Associate Professor, Department of Islamic Economics, Faculty of Economics and Management, University of Qom, Qom, Iran

10.30497/flj.2025.247545.2128

Abstract

The issue of the wife's inheritance as a unique heir is one of the contentious matters among jurists and legal scholars. This research aims to examine the legal and jurisprudential roots of the wife's deprivation from inheriting more than one-fourth of the estate when she is the sole heir of her husband. The main question of the article is why Iranian civil law, contrary to some jurisprudential opinions, deprives the wife of inheriting beyond her prescribed share, and whether amending this law could effectively contribute to achieving gender and social justice. The research methodology is descriptive-analytical, studying legal and jurisprudential sources to investigate this issue. Additionally, the possibility of the husband's will be regarding all his assets and providing solutions for transferring the entire estate to the wife are also analyzed. The findings indicate that revising Article 949 of the Civil Code, considering social developments and utilizing supportive jurisprudential opinions regarding granting additional inheritance to the wife, could be a significant step toward achieving legal equality between spouses and social justice.

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