Does a wife divorced by a terminally ill husband inherit if the husband dies during her waiting period (Iddah) after he remarries another woman?
Chapter on Distant Kindred (Dhawu al-Arham)
Al-Mughni
Book of Inheritance Shares (Farā'id)
Primary text
If a terminally ill man divorces his wife and subsequently marries another woman, and the husband dies during the first wife's Iddah period, both women inherit from him. This is the position of Abu Hanifa and the scholars of Iraq, and one of the two opinions of Al-Shafi'i. The basis for this ruling is derived from cases where the man is prevented from harming the rights of the first wife through divorce, which implies the divorce does not strip her entirely of her right to inheritance if death occurs within the Iddah. If the husband had remarried three women while having one already divorced, the first divorced wife inherits only one-fourth of the share due to wives, and each of the subsequent wives also gets one-fourth, provided they are all within the maximum allowable number of wives.
Supporting text
The dissenting view holds that the irrevocably divorced woman (Mubtuta) does not inherit, thus all inheritance goes to the second wife. Malik holds that all inheritance belongs to the first divorced wife because, in his view, the marriage contracted by the ill person is invalid. Another view suggests all inheritance goes to the first wife because she would have inherited everything had he not divorced her, but this view is refuted by stating that if he had not divorced her but married another concurrently, she would only receive half the share of wives.