By: Qazi Fozia
In a world that claims to be advancing, where people speak of women’s rights, equality, and Islamic justice there still remains a painful wound that refuses to heal. When a daughter asks for her rightful share in her father’s inheritance, society calls her selfish. A social evil, they say. But who gave them that right to judge?
When our Deen — Islam — has given her this right, why is she still made to feel like an outsider in the very home she grew up in?
Is She Not Her Father’s Daughter?
She is the one who once held her father’s finger to walk. She is the one who smiled the widest when her baba came home. She is not a stranger but his blood. She is his child. Then why is she made to feel like a burden when she asks for what Allah has written for her?
Does marriage erase her roots?
Does being someone’s wife suddenly make her a foreigner to her own father’s land? Why must a daughter ask for her right, with tears in her eyes — while a son receives it without question? Why is she treated like an outsider for fulfilling a command of Allah?
Why is she made to feel guilty for being just?
She is not the outsider – She Was the First Home
She is not someone who appears after death.
She was always there.
She is the one who helped in every family emergency, cooked, cleaned, cared, and covered the pain just to keep her home smiling. She is the one who sacrificed her own dreams just to make sure her brother’s dreams could fly. She is the one who stayed silent when hurt, so that peace could live.
And yet, when the time comes to divide the inheritance, the same hands she held as a child are now raised against her — with blame, shame, and silence.
The same home that once echoed with her laughter now shuts its doors. The house that was once her father’s — now her brother’s — treats her like a sinner, just because she asked for her right.
What Does Allah Say?
Let us be very clear:
“For men is a share of what the parents and close relatives leave, and for women is a share of what the parents and close relatives leave, be it little or much – an obligatory share.”
(Qur’an 4:7)
The word “obligatory” (farz) should echo in every home. This is not culture. This is not opinion. This is a command from Allah.
When a woman takes her share, she is not being greedy.
She is following the law of her Lord.
Then Why the Hatred?
Why is she made to feel guilty?
Because society has chosen culture over Deen, and ego over justice.
Because families believe that giving a daughter her share will divide them — not realizing that it’s injustice that breaks a home, not the truth.
Some families even say:
- “Your husband will provide.”
- “You were already given gifts during your wedding.”
- “What will people say?”
- “Don’t ruin your brothers’ hearts.”
But to them we ask:
Where is Allah in all this? Where is His command?
Brothers Who Turn to Strangers
What hurts the most is that the very brothers she raised like a second mother,
The ones she gave her share of love, food, and smiles —
Are the first to question her loyalty when she speaks of her rights.
She does not ask for war.
She does not come with anger.
She only comes with her tears and her Qur’an — and still, they shut the door on her face.
She walks away, not with wealth — but with a heart broken by the very people she once called home.
What Needs to Change
- Educate the Family: Every family must learn what the Qur’an says about inheritance — and act upon it.
- Support the Daughter: Give her love and understanding, not shame.
- Fear the Day of Judgment: Because Allah will ask every soul:
“Did you give your sister/daughter what was hers?”
Final Words
She is not a guest.
She is not an outsider.
She is her father’s daughter — forever.
When she asks for her share, she is not being disrespectful.
She is being honest. Brave. Faithful.
Why is it so easy for a son to inherit — and so hard for a daughter to be heard?
Why is a daughter seen as greedy, when she only asks for what her Creator gave her?
To deny her is not just injustice — it is a sin.
So let us not hide behind culture. Let us rise with the truth.
Because a home built on justice will always have barakah,
But a home built on denial will eventually fall.
(Author is an Advocate at Jammu Kashmir & Ladakh High Court. Views expressed are exclusively her own and can be reached at
Qazifozia11@gmail.com)
