Can a Muslim inherit from a non-Muslim parent?

Many Muslims, converts above all, have parents of another faith or of none. When a mother or father dies, the grief is followed by a practical question: may a Muslim accept what the parent left behind? The stronger view (al-rājiḥ) is that a Muslim may inherit from a non-Muslim parent and accept whatever the parent leaves by will or gift. This was the ruling of the Companion Muʿādh ibn Jabal and the caliph Muʿāwiya, it is the law of the Jaʿfari school, and every school agrees that a bequest across faiths is valid.

What does the hadith say about inheritance between faiths?

The Companion Usāma ibn Zayd reported that the Prophet ﷺ said, “A Muslim does not inherit from a disbeliever, nor a disbeliever from a Muslim” (Sahih al-Bukhari 6764). Another report says, “People of two different religions do not inherit from each other” (Sunan Abi Dawud 2911, graded hasan sahih by al-Albani). The four Sunni schools took these reports at their widest and held that inheritance does not pass between Muslims and non-Muslims in either direction.

The Prophet ﷺ spoke these words during the conquest of Mecca, after years in which the believers had been at war with their own kin (Sahih al-Bukhari 4283). Families were divided by battle lines, and inheritance in Arabia followed loyalty and mutual defense. The ruling protected each community’s property in a time of conflict.

Who held that a Muslim may inherit from a non-Muslim?

Muʿādh ibn Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him), whom the Prophet ﷺ sent to Yemen as a teacher and judge, was brought the estate of a Jewish man whose heir was a Muslim. Muʿādh gave the estate to the Muslim heir and cited the Prophet’s ﷺ words, “Islam increases and does not decrease” (Sunan Abi Dawud 2912 and 2913). The chain of this report is weak, but the jurists record the ruling as Muʿādh’s own. Muʿāwiya ruled the same way as caliph, and the view is reported from the great Successors Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib and Masrūq, as Ibn Qudama (d. 1223) records in al-Mughnī. Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 1350) defended it in Aḥkām Ahl al-Dhimma.

Their reasoning was this: Islam opens doors of good for its followers and does not close them. A faith that allows a Muslim man to marry a Christian woman and to eat the food of the People of the Book does not shut a Muslim out of their own parent’s estate. On this reading the hadith concerns inheritance by a non-Muslim from a Muslim, and inheritance between peoples at war.

Jaʿfari (Shia) law holds this view clearly: a Muslim inherits from a non-Muslim relative, while a non-Muslim does not inherit from a Muslim.

Can a non-Muslim parent leave a Muslim child a will?

Yes, and here the schools agree. A bequest (waṣiyya, وصية) between a Muslim and a non-Muslim is valid in every school, and so is a gift during life. The Quran commanded believers to make bequests for their parents and close relatives:

كُتِبَ عَلَيۡكُمۡ إِذَا حَضَرَ أَحَدَكُمُ ٱلۡمَوۡتُ إِن تَرَكَ خَيۡرًا ٱلۡوَصِيَّةُ لِلۡوَٰلِدَيۡنِ وَٱلۡأَقۡرَبِينَ بِٱلۡمَعۡرُوفِ

“It is prescribed for you, when death approaches one of you and he leaves wealth, to make a bequest for parents and close relatives in fairness.”

Quran 2:180

After the verses of inheritance came down, most jurists held that a bequest to relatives who take no fixed share remains recommended, and some early scholars held it obligatory. Family members of another faith are the first example of such relatives. So even on the majority view, a Muslim child may accept what a non-Muslim parent leaves by will. In most Western countries, an estate passes by civil law or by the parent’s will, and a Muslim heir may accept it with a clear conscience.

Can a Muslim leave a bequest to non-Muslim family?

Yes. A Muslim may leave up to a third of the estate by will to anyone outside the fixed heirs. When Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ asked how much he could bequeath, the Prophet ﷺ said, “A third, and a third is a lot” (Sahih al-Bukhari 2742). Muslims with non-Muslim parents, spouses, or siblings can use this third to provide for them. The fixed shares among Muslim heirs are explained in Why do women inherit half?

How should a Muslim honor a non-Muslim parent’s death?

The Quran tells a child whose parents do not share their faith to stay close to them with kindness:

وَصَاحِبۡهُمَا فِي ٱلدُّنۡيَا مَعۡرُوفٗا

“And keep them company in this world with kindness.”

Quran 31:15

When Asmāʾ bint Abī Bakr’s mother, still a polytheist, came to visit her, the Prophet ﷺ told her, “Yes, keep the bond with your mother” (Sahih al-Bukhari 2620). That bond continues at a parent’s death:

• Attend the funeral and stand with your family in their grief (Can Muslims attend a Christian funeral?). Many Muslims also attend a parent’s cremation (Is cremation haram?).
• Carry out the will faithfully, and settle the parent’s debts.
• Share fairly with your siblings according to the will and the law, with generosity where it keeps the peace.
• Pray for your parent and give charity in their name. Allah’s mercy is vast (Can Muslims pray for non-Muslims?).

A closing word

What a parent leaves behind is the last gift of a lifetime of care. Receive it with gratitude, use it well, and let it carry their memory into good deeds. May Allah have mercy on every parent who raised a child with love, and join families again in His mercy.