Blocking of heirs (hajb)

حجب في الميراث

Hajb (blocking) in inheritance is the barring of an heir from the whole share, called hajb hirman, or from a larger share to a smaller one, called hajb nuqsan. ¹ Exclusion by a quality, such as killing or slavery, does not reach the six heirs who cannot be excluded: the two parents, the spouses, the son and the daughter; exclusion by a person, such as a brother blocked by the father or the son, is the other kind. ² Reduction (nuqsan) affects five heirs: the two spouses, the mother, the son's daughter, the sister by the father, and the maternal siblings. ¹ Among the general rules, the nearer heir blocks the more remote, the stronger tie blocks the weaker, and whoever is linked to the deceased through an heir inherits only with the mother's children. ² The jurists differ on whether the grandfather blocks full and paternal brothers: the Hanafis hold that he does, while the majority and the two companions of Abu Hanifa hold that he inherits with them. ^{2 3} The grandmother is blocked by the mother, and the jurists differ on the paternal grandmother and on whether a nearer grandmother on one side blocks a remoter one on the other. ^{3 4} Most jurists hold that an heir excluded for a bar such as killing or slavery does not block others, but Ibn Mas'ud held that a deprived heir still blocks. ⁴