Tafnid al-Shubuhat Hawl Mirath al-Mara fi al-Islam
- Author died
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- Editions
- Dār al-Ṣafā wa-al-Marwah
Tafnid al-Shubuhat Hawl Mirath al-Mara fi al-Islam (Refuting Misconceptions Regarding Women's Inheritance in Islam) is a legal and apologetic treatise by the Egyptian author Abu Asim al-Barakati, dedicated to defending Islamic inheritance law (fara'id) against contemporary criticisms and calls for gender parity in inheritance shares.
Authorship and Publication
The work was authored by Abu Asim al-Barakati al-Misri, whose full name is given as al-Shahhat Sha'ban Mahmud 'Abd al-Qadir Musa. He completed the writing of the treatise on the night of Tuesday, 6 Rabi' al-Awwal 1430 AH (3 March 2009 CE) in the village of Barakat, located in Ibshan, Kafr al-Shaykh, Egypt.
The treatise was reviewed and introduced by the Egyptian scholar Wahid ibn Abd al-Salam Bali, who completed his foreword on 27 Jumada al-Ula 1430 AH in Mansha'at 'Abbas, Kafr al-Shaykh. Bali praised the concise treatise for systematically refuting opposing arguments. The work was published in its first edition by Dar al-Safa wa-al-Marwa in Alexandria, Egypt, bearing the deposit number 7906/2010.
Content and Arguments
The treatise addresses arguments raised by Western Orientalists, secularists, and Westernized intellectuals who assert that Islamic law treats women unjustly by granting them half the inheritance share of men and who subsequently demand complete equality in inheritance. The author criticizes historical-evolutionary interpretations that view Islamic family laws as mere developments of pre-Islamic Arabian tribal customs.
The book establishes several core theological and legal counterarguments:
- Theological submission and divine legislation: Islamic law is presented as the final and fully preserved divine revelation, requiring unconditional submission (taslim) and obedience from believers.
- Complementary financial obligations: The distribution of inheritance shares reflects the distinct financial responsibilities assigned to each gender, particularly the legal obligation placed upon men to maintain the household and provide financial maintenance (nafaqah) and marital dowries (mahr), from which women are exempt.
- Mathematical and structural refutations: In the introductory dialogue, Bali illustrates that the premise that women always receive half of a man's share is factually incorrect according to classical fara'id rules. The text demonstrates specific cases where a female heir receives an equal share to a male heir—such as maternal siblings sharing a third equally in kalalah (Quran 4:12), or parents each receiving a sixth when the deceased leaves a son (Quran 4:11)—and cases where a female receives more than a male heir, such as a single daughter inheriting half the total estate while a father or a paternal brother receives only a smaller residual portion.
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