What is the ruling when a wife and her son die, and the husband claims the wife died first, inheriting her estate and subsequently the son's estate, while the wife's brother claims the son died first, inheriting a portion of the wife's estate?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Claims and Evidences
Primary text
When a wife and her son die, and there is a dispute between the husband (claiming the wife died first) and the brother (claiming the son died first), both parties must swear an oath to invalidate the claim of the other. The son's inheritance goes entirely to his father (the husband). The wife's inheritance is divided equally between her brother and her husband. This distribution is based on the principle that the cause for the living heir to inherit from their deceased relative is established, while the other sequence of death is uncertain and should not override certainty. Thus, the son's estate goes to the father who is certain to be alive after the son, and the wife's estate is split between her brother and husband.
Supporting text
An alternative view suggests that the inheritance should be divided equally between the husband and the brother. Furthermore, another possibility mentioned is that one-sixth of the son's estate should be joined with half of the wife's estate and then divided equally between the husband and brother. The ruling derived from the analogy of the drowned or collapsed building (*al-gharaqa wal-hadma*) suggests that the brother receives one-sixth of the son's inheritance, and the remaining inheritance goes to the husband, predicated on the assumption that the wife died first.