“Divide According to Sharīʿa”: The Islamic Inheritance System in the Russian Empire
Until the end of the imperial period, the Volga-Ural Muslim communities in the Russian empire practiced several methods of intergenerational property transfer, such as waṣiyyat (bequest), hiba (gift), ṣulḥ/takhāruj (peaceful settlement) and the “science of the shares” (ʿilm al-farāʾiḍ). The Volga-Ur...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
Die Welt des Islams
Year: 2025, Volume: 65, Issue: 2/3, Pages: 250-279 |
| Further subjects: | B
division of inheritance
B science of the shares B Volga-Ural Muslims B bequest B Colonialism B inheritance system B Russian Empire |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Until the end of the imperial period, the Volga-Ural Muslim communities in the Russian empire practiced several methods of intergenerational property transfer, such as waṣiyyat (bequest), hiba (gift), ṣulḥ/takhāruj (peaceful settlement) and the “science of the shares” (ʿilm al-farāʾiḍ). The Volga-Ural Muslims considered them all as legitimate ways of property division according to Islamic law (sharīʿa). However, a significant shift occurred in the early 1820s when the Russian imperial state confirmed the Orenburg Muslim Spiritual Assembly as the court of appeal for family and inheritance matters. Subsequently, Volga-Ural Muslims began to petition the oa, seeking a reconsideration of their inheritance divisions, specifically requesting a division “according to sharīʿa”. By the end of the nineteenth century, most of these petitions resulted in divisions based on the science of the shares. I argue that the oa served as an extra-communal venue where Muslims could challenge intra-familial or communal methods of inheritance division, and request divisions based on the science of the shares. |
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| ISSN: | 1570-0607 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Die Welt des Islams
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15700607-20240016 |
