Does one heir's acknowledgment of a third, unacknowledged heir establish kinship for inheritance purposes?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Acknowledgment of Rights
Primary text
The kinship of a third heir, sharing in the inheritance, is not established solely by the acknowledgment of one of the existing heirs, by the consensus of scholars. This is because lineage (nasab) is indivisible; it cannot be established for the acknowledging heir while being denied by the others, nor can it be established against the denial of the others in the absence of corroborating testimony. However, the acknowledged person shares in the inheritance with the acknowledging heir, according to the opinion of the majority of scholars.
Supporting text
Al-Shafi'i and Ibn Sirin hold that the third person does not share in the inheritance. Ibrahim states that nothing is established unless all heirs acknowledge the lineage, arguing that since the lineage is unproven, the person cannot inherit, similar to acknowledging someone of known, but false, lineage. The basis for establishing the share is that the acknowledgment concerns property rights whose invalidity has not been ruled upon, similar to acknowledging a sale or debt.