I would like to remind some details from Quran before mentioning about the heritage matter. The man and woman are equal in Islam from the point of obedience. The Quran says ‘’tell to the believer men and believer women’’. Nobody is superior to the other. Allah says ‘’No matter if he is man or woman, if a believer does something good we grant him a good life and reward at the best’’ (Nahl Surah, 97). The superiority is just in the degree of closeness to Allah. ‘’That who is the closes to Allah is the most superior among the believers’’ (Hucurat Surah, 13).

The factor that differentiates man and woman in normal life is the biological and emotional structures. Allah gave different features to both of the sexes. But these features do not make one of them superior to the other. The man is superior in matters requiring physical strength. The emotional intelligence and fertility are features of women that do not exist in men.

Men and women can work according to Quran. ‘’There is share from what they earn to men just as there is share to women from what they earn’’ (Nisa Surah, 32). But the responsibility of earning a living is given to the man. This does not mean that the man is superior at home. Because Allah says that the believers should do all of their works via consultancy. This applies to husbands and wives too. The men does not have the last word just because he earns a living. In the 34 verse of Nisa Surah Allah, with his expression ‘’ erricalü kavvamune alennisai’’, means that ‘’men protect women’’ or ‘’the men are responsible to earn the living of women’’. The mentioned woman may be wife, sister, mother or daughter.  Men protect women. Because Allah gave each of them different features and gifts. Men are responsible of earning a living… (Nisa Surah, 34)

Now let us talk about the Nisa Surah 11. verse which is criticized a lot by the atheists; “Allah gives you advices about your children. The man gets twice the share of the woman. “

When you read this part of the verse without thinking in details and reasoning and understanding Quran in general you may think that the women are under suppression. But this is definitely not the case. Now let us check the last part of the verse.  “… All of these shares, are after the will of the dead person and payment of the debts. ” (Nisa Surah, 11)

There is an interesting detail here which has not been taken into consideration. It is not meant that you should give two shares to the man and one share to the woman over the whole heritage. It is valid for the heritage left after the will and payment of the debts. The father may distribute his heritage between his son and daughter equally if he likes to. Or he may give more to the person who took better care of him in his old age. Then if the father has debts they are paid with the heritage remaining after the will. If anything else is remaining, one share of it is given to the woman and two shares to the man.

This distribution is valid for the heritage left by the father to his children. And justice is the basis in will. According to Bakara Surah 180. Verse, it is obligatory that the person gives his will when he is dying. In the 182nd verse it says that in case the will is not just, the dispute between the parties should be settled.

Besides, that who mediates between the parties due to the fear that the testator tends to be unjust, he is not a sinner anymore, Allah is the forgiver indeed. (Bakara Surah, 182)

If the testator man has no wife or children the distribution is different. The brothers and sisters of the dead person get equal shares.

If the testator man or woman do not have a wife or husband a child but have a brother and sister, each of them get one sixth. If they are more in numbers they get one third. This distribution should be done after executing the will and paying the debts so that no one is harmed. This is the will of Allah. (Nisa Surah, 12)

Now I want to get back to the details I mentioned at the beginning of my article. In Nisa Surah 34. verse, it says that the man is responsible of earning the living of women (mother, wife, sister, daughter). It said that the woman can also work like a man since both men and women get their shares from what they earn. But the work of woman is not to earn a living. The life is joint and the woman may also contribute to the living of the house. But Allah gave a privilege to women and made the man responsible of earning a living. The woman is free to spend what she earns freely.  The results I would like to reach are; 1- The male gets two shares from the heritage remaining after the will and payment of debts. But the share he will get will probably not be so much. Because the wealth which exceeds your needs are granted in Islam. It is granted to orphans, poor and weak people. It is forbidden to save wealth. The remaining heritage will most probably be house, office, car, garden, animals etc. The man is responsible of earning the living of his sister and mother, and his wife when he gets married.

2- According to the Islamic laws the man should pay dowry to the woman when getting married. Dowry is directly given to the woman not to her family.

This verse which is shown as evidence for suppressing women, shows how valuable the woman is in case you take into consideration the whole Quran. Islam is the only system where women get all of their rights and especially respect.