Islamic Inheritance Calculator Kenya (2026): Faraid Shares Worked Through

An Islamic inheritance calculation always runs in the same order: pay the funeral costs, pay the debts, honour any bequest up to one third of what remains, then divide the rest among the heirs using the fixed shares in the Quran and the residue rule. In Kenya that calculation has legal force. Section 2(3) of the Law of Succession Act says the Act's rules of distribution do not apply to a Muslim's estate, which is instead governed by Muslim law, and section 48(2) confirms that Kadhi's courts determine inheritance questions for Muslims. This page gives the shares, works five Kenyan family situations through in shillings, and then explains what to file and where. For the will itself, start with our estate planning hub.

The three deductions that come before any heir

Nothing is divided until three things are settled from the gross estate. First, reasonable funeral and burial expenses. Second, every debt the deceased owed, including unpaid zakat, a deferred mahr owed to a wife, bank financing, M-Shwari or Fuliza balances and KRA liabilities; a debt to a bank on a halal facility is still a debt and is paid before heirs take anything. Third, any bequest (wasiyyah), which under the majority view is capped at one third of the net estate and may not go to someone who is already an heir unless the other heirs agree after the death.

Only the remainder is the distributable estate. In practice the Kadhi's court will want a list of assets with values, a list of debts with evidence, and the burial costs, so a family that assembles those three documents before filing saves months. Our guide to Islamic wills and inheritance in Kenya explains what a valid will must contain so that the bequest step does not become the dispute.

The fixed shares and who gets the residue

The Quran fixes shares for a small group of heirs, and everyone else inherits the residue in a set order. The table gives the classical Sunni rules that Kenyan Kadhis apply. A 'child' here means a son or daughter, or a son's child in their absence.

Blocking (hajb) removes heirs who are further from the deceased. A son blocks the deceased's brothers, sisters and grandchildren. A father blocks the grandfather and the siblings. A closer residuary always excludes a more distant one. Two further rules handle the arithmetic when shares do not fit: if the fixed fractions add up to more than one, every share is scaled down in proportion (awl); if there is money left and no residuary heir, the schools differ on whether it returns to the fixed-share heirs (radd) or goes elsewhere, and the Kadhi will apply the view of the school followed. Where a situation involves a grandfather with siblings, half-siblings on the father's side, or a missing or unborn heir, do not rely on a calculator at all; take the facts to a Kadhi or a qualified scholar.

Five Kenyan estates calculated step by step

The amounts below are illustrations chosen for arithmetic clarity. The method is what matters, and the same steps apply to an estate of KES 300,000 or KES 300 million.

Example one: widow, two sons and a daughter

A Nairobi man dies leaving a wife, two sons and one daughter. Gross estate KES 6,000,000; burial KES 150,000; debts KES 450,000; no bequest. Net estate KES 5,400,000. The wife takes 1/8 because there are children: KES 675,000. The residue of KES 4,725,000 goes to the children at two shares per son and one per daughter, five shares in all, so KES 945,000 per share. Each son receives KES 1,890,000 and the daughter KES 945,000. Parents, if alive, would each have taken 1/6 before the children; here they are deceased.

Example two: no children, both parents, two brothers

A man dies leaving a wife, his mother, his father and two full brothers, with no children. Net estate KES 2,400,000. The wife takes 1/4 because there is no child: KES 600,000. The mother takes 1/6, not 1/3, because two or more siblings exist: KES 400,000. The father, as the nearest male residuary, takes everything left, KES 1,400,000, and his presence blocks the brothers entirely. The brothers' existence changed the mother's share but gave them nothing.

Example three: a woman with a husband, two daughters and both parents

A Mombasa businesswoman dies leaving a husband, two daughters, her mother and her father. Net estate KES 1,200,000. Fixed shares: husband 1/4 (there are children), daughters 2/3 together, mother 1/6, father 1/6. In twelfths that is 3 plus 8 plus 2 plus 2, which equals 15, more than the 12 available. Awl applies: each share is paid as its numerator over 15. The husband receives 3/15, KES 240,000; the daughters 8/15 together, KES 320,000 each; the mother 2/15, KES 160,000; the father 2/15, KES 160,000. The total is exactly KES 1,200,000.

Example four: a polygamous household

A Garissa trader dies leaving two wives, three sons and two daughters across both marriages. Net estate KES 8,000,000. The wives share a single 1/8 equally, KES 500,000 each. The residue of KES 7,000,000 is divided among the children without regard to which wife is their mother: three sons at two units and two daughters at one unit make eight units of KES 875,000. Each son takes KES 1,750,000 and each daughter KES 875,000. A child's share depends only on the child's relationship to the deceased, not on the marriage.

Example five: a plot, an M-PESA balance and a Ziidi fund

A man dies leaving a wife, one daughter and a full brother. Assets: a plot in his sole name valued at KES 3,000,000, an M-PESA balance of KES 150,000 and KES 350,000 in a Shariah money market fund, total KES 3,500,000; debts KES 200,000; net KES 3,300,000. The wife takes 1/8, KES 412,500. The daughter, alone and without a son, takes 1/2, KES 1,650,000. The brother takes the residue, KES 1,237,500, because no son or father blocks him. The plot cannot be cut into those fractions, so the heirs either sell it and split the proceeds, or one heir buys the others out at a valuation the Kadhi accepts. The M-PESA and fund balances are released by Safaricom and the fund manager against the court's grant, which is why the paperwork below matters.

How the Kadhi's court turns the sums into a legal order

Kadhi's courts are established by Article 170 of the Constitution, and the Judiciary's own page states that their jurisdiction covers questions of Muslim law on personal status, marriage, divorce and inheritance where all parties profess Islam and submit to the court. There are 14 stand-alone Kadhi's courts, with the rest sitting at magistrates' courts; the Judiciary lists Kadhis from Mombasa (where the Chief Kadhi sits) and Nairobi to Wajir, Mandera, Garissa, Kisumu, Eldoret and Kakuma. Section 2(4) of the Law of Succession Act keeps Part VII of the Act, which deals with the administration of estates, applicable to Muslims where it is not inconsistent with Muslim law, so the grant of representation procedure still runs; section 50(2) gives an appeal from a Kadhi's order to the High Court.

• Obtain the death certificate from the Civil Registration office and copies of the deceased's national ID and KRA PIN.
• List every heir with their relationship, ID number and contact, and have the family agree the list before filing, because a disputed heir list is the commonest cause of delay.
• Compile the asset schedule: title deeds or lease documents, bank and SACCO statements, M-PESA statement, fund and CDS statements, vehicle logbooks, business registration and any takaful policy.
• Compile the debt schedule with evidence, including bank facilities, SACCO loans, mobile loans and any unpaid mahr, and the burial receipts.
• File at the Kadhi's court for the area where the deceased lived, apply for the grant, and ask the court to confirm the distribution in the faraid shares shown above.
• Serve the sealed grant on each institution holding assets; banks, Safaricom, fund managers and the Lands Registry release or transfer against it.

Where an estate includes land in another county or a business with employees, an advocate who handles succession files alongside the Kadhi's court will save time; the court decides the shares, but transfers at the Lands Registry and the Business Registration Service follow their own procedures.

Kenyan complications the shares do not solve on their own

Jointly registered land is the first trap. If a plot is registered in the names of husband and wife, check the register for how it is held; the surviving co-owner's position depends on the form of co-ownership on the title, and only the deceased's share enters the estate. Chama shares and SACCO deposits belong to the deceased and are estate assets, but the chama constitution or SACCO rules often name a next of kin who receives the payout; in Islamic terms that person holds the money on trust for the heirs and must distribute it by the shares, not keep it.

Pension and NSSF benefits are the second trap. Schemes pay to the nominated beneficiary or dependants under scheme rules and trustee discretion, which is not the same as the faraid. The scholarly view most Kenyan Kadhis apply treats the pension pot the deceased had accumulated as his property to be divided by the shares, with the nominee again holding on trust; our article on zakat on retirement savings explains how those pots are built, and the wider retirement planning guide for Kenyan Muslims covers nominations. A family takaful benefit is treated by most scholars as the estate's money if the policy was the deceased's, and as the beneficiary's money only where the contract was structured as a gift to that person; take the policy wording to a scholar.

Zakat is the third. If the deceased had not paid zakat due on the year of death, it is a debt to Allah paid before distribution, which is why a zakat record matters; the zakat hub has the calculation. Finally, a daughter's or wife's share that is 'kept in the family' by informal agreement, a common pattern with ancestral land, is a share taken from an heir, and the Kadhi's court will enforce it if she asks.

The decision

If you are the eldest son or the widow organising a parent's or spouse's estate, do the arithmetic in this order: list heirs, value assets, subtract burial and debts, apply the fixed shares, give the residue to the sons or the nearest residuary, and take the result to the Kadhi's court with the documents listed above. If the heir list includes a grandfather alongside siblings, half-siblings on different sides, or a missing person, stop and get a Kadhi's or scholar's ruling before you tell anyone a number.

If you are planning rather than administering, the most useful thing you can do today is write an Islamic will that names an executor, lists your assets and debts, states the mahr owed, and includes any one-third bequest to a non-heir such as a masjid or a relative who is blocked; our Islamic will hub explains the Kenyan form. Then put your nominations in order so that the NSSF, the pension fund and the SACCO know who will hold the money on trust for the heirs. Facts checked against kenyalaw.org, judiciary.go.ke on 27 September 2026.

Frequently asked questions

How is inheritance divided in Islam?

After funeral costs, debts and any bequest of up to one third, the estate is divided by fixed Quranic shares for spouses, parents, daughters and certain siblings, with the remainder going to residuary heirs, usually sons, at two shares for a male to one for a female. Closer heirs block more distant ones, and if fixed shares exceed the whole, every share is scaled down proportionally.

What does a wife inherit in Islam?

A wife receives one eighth of the net estate if her husband left a child or grandchild, and one quarter if he left none. Where there is more than one wife, they share that single eighth or quarter equally. Her deferred mahr, if unpaid, is a debt settled before the estate is divided and is in addition to her share.

Do Kenyan courts apply Islamic inheritance law?

Yes. Section 2(3) of the Law of Succession Act excludes Muslims' estates from the Act's distribution rules and applies Muslim law instead, and section 48(2) confirms that Kadhi's courts determine inheritance questions for deceased Muslims. The Act's Part VII on administration still applies where it is consistent with Muslim law, and appeals go to the High Court.

Which Kadhi's court do I file in?

File in the Kadhi's court covering the area where the deceased last lived. The Judiciary lists 14 stand-alone Kadhi's courts, with other Kadhis sitting at magistrates' courts across the country, including Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret, Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Isiolo, Kilifi, Malindi, Lamu, Nakuru and Kakuma. All parties must profess Islam and submit to the court's jurisdiction.

Can a Muslim leave property to one child in a will?

Not by will, under the majority view: a bequest to someone who is already an heir is not effective unless the other heirs consent after the death. A bequest to a non-heir, such as a grandchild blocked by a living son, a charity or a masjid, is valid up to one third of the net estate. Gifts completed during life are a separate matter and should be fair among children.

Who inherits NSSF and pension money?

The scheme pays the nominated beneficiary or dependants under its rules, but in Islamic terms the money the deceased had accumulated is estate property. The nominee holds it on trust and should distribute it by the faraid shares. Keep nominations current and tell the nominee what the role means to avoid a dispute at the Kadhi's court.