Strani pravni život (Jan 2022)

Inheritance in sharia law with an overview of the position of illegitimate children

  • Čović Ana V.,
  • Stjepanović Bogdana M.

DOI
https://doi.org/10.56461/SPZ_22205KJ
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2022, no. 2
pp. 261 – 283

Abstract

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Classical sharia systems in which the classical Sharia is formally equated with the national law exist in a very small number of today's states. In these states, the ruler can publish and change laws in some legal domains, but traditional religious scholars (ulema) play a crucial role in interpreting sharia. The codification of sharia law was first carried out by Turkiye, followed by Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Iran. Today, Sharia law has a wide or limited application in many countries, and the importance of its study is historical, but also practical, especially in the field of private international law. Family and inheritance Sharia law has been applied in the Balkans for centuries, and until 1946, there were Sharia courts on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Regulations related to marital law and polygamy, inheritance law, which prescribes that a man inherits as two women, as well as regulations that equate the testimony of a man with the testimony of two women, are most often criticized. Sharia inheritance law has religious binding force when it refers to the so called 'mulk' property of the testator (movables, houses, buildings, yards, gardens and some gardens in towns and villages), and in terms of determining the hereditary parts, it is characterized by exceptional mathematical precision. Since Sharia inheritance law has historically resisted changes under the influence of modern reforms, it is interesting to learn about its principles and the content of the provisions on which it is based, as well as due to the fact that the number of immigrants in Europe has increased in recent years, and also because of the creation of an Islamic family - legal and hereditary - legal order, which, although officially unrecognized, exist in the UK as normatively effective.

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