What does taʿsīb mean?

Taʿsīb mean residuary heirs (taking by taʿsīb). The residuary heirs take the balance of the estate after the predetermined or prescribed shares. For example, if the survivors are a mother and one son: the mother’s prescribed share is 1/6, and the son takes the balance of the estate, which is 5/6, through taʿsīb.

There are three types of taʿsīb:

(1) Taʿsīb through self (ʿaṣaba bi nafsihi), which includes all male heirs except the husband and maternal brothers

(2) Taʿsīb as a derivative of another (ʿaṣaba bi ghayrihā), where sons, a son’s sons, full brothers, and paternal brothers all bring their sisters within the  taʿsīb category

(3) Taʿsīb with another person (ʿaṣaba bi maʿa ghayrihā), where full sisters and paternal sisters take through taʿsīb with daughters or son’s daughters

While this sounds complicated, it’s really quite simple. Let’s look at a few examples:

Where the survivors are a mother, one daughter, and a full brother, the mother’s prescribed share is 1/6 and the daughter’s prescribed share is 1/2. The full brother, a residuary heir, will then receive the balance remaining in the estate by taʿsīb, which is 1/3.

Where the survivors are a mother, a father, a wife, a son, and a daughter, the mother and father receive 1/6 each as a predetermined share, and the wife receives 1/8 as her predetermined share. The remaining balance is now determined (the first line below shows how the fractions have been given the same bottom number, or denominator, to show the math more clearly):

1/6 + 1/6 + 1/8 = 4/24 + 4/24 + 3/24

4/24 + 4/24 + 3/24 = 11/24

24/24 − 11/24 = 13/24

13/24 of the estate remains. Even though the daughter is a Qur’anic heir, when she has a brother, they both fall within the taʿsīb category. In this example, the son and daughter receive the 13/24 balance in the estate, with the son receiving twice the share the daughter receives (here, the son receives 13/36 of the estate and the daughter receives 13/72 of it):

13/24 ∕ 3 = 13/72

13/72 * 2 = 13/36

Again, when the predetermined share the Qur’anic heirs take is not 100% of the estate, the remainder must be distributed according to the remainder rules, either radd or taʿsīb.

Does taʿsīb apply to your estate? Use our INHERITANCE CALCULATOR to discover your Islamic heirs and their shares.