Azeem Bilal, 38, spent years and years looking after his father. In his father's dying days, Bilal was by his side. He is not the only son. Bilal has two older brothers who had the opportunity to move abroad and, over the years, flourished in their careers.
Bilal’s mother died six years ago and since then he responsibly took care of his father, who recently passed, just four months ago.
He also cooked and cleaned after his parents when his mother was bedridden in her last days.
“I have always lived with my parents, taking care of them. I was 15 when my siblings left for higher studies. With time, every opportunity that I got, I let go because there was no one but myself to take care of my parents, be it taking them to doctors or getting them grocery,” said Bilal.
His lifetime of caring and loyalty for his father and mother has not been rewarded quantifiably. When his parents died, all the sons got an equal share of their inheritance. “We are just three brothers. My brothers are already in Canada and the US. But I spent my prime years for my parents and am now left with nothing,” Bilal lamented.
“I was happy to serve my parents. I took them as my responsibility and somewhat religiously it was my duty maybe but the problem is what about all the chances that I missed while my siblings had the times of their lives,” he narrated.
Bilal's story is not rare. We can see such stories every day around us where the younger sibling or the one who is left behind with their parents suffers after the demise of the parents.
Tasneem Alvi did not get married because she was taking care of her parents while her siblings were abroad. “I left almost everything from my marriage prospects to my studies but, at the end of the day, I got peanuts. Now I don’t even have enough money for a house of my own. All of this is because my brother who was not even there to take care of my parents got everything,” she said. Alvi’s siblings would send a monthly stipend to her parents but then again, money is not the only thing that is needed for ageing parents. Physically being there, rushing them to hospitals, getting everything else done for them and not being selfish and making a life for yourself is what children in caregiving roles do.
“Today when my parents are no more, I have nothing left because I could never go out and make a good life and the inheritance was mostly divided among my brothers,” shared Alvi who is working at a law firm and is living in a rented place.
In nearly every second house, we see children left behind after the parents pass away. “All this melts down to a person's morals. When you were not there to take care of your parents in their time of need, then one should be considerate about their siblings who have spent their prime years for their parents,” said sociologist Nadeem Ahmed. He said that parents should also step up and make their wills in their lifetimes. Another emotional issue that arises is when children ask their parents to make wills, they get offended and never understand the need of it and how the children will suffer later.
The law does not favour any sibling either a male or a female as Article 23 of the constitution of Pakistan clearly states that any citizen can acquire, halt, and dispose of property at any part at any reasonable restriction of the law in the public interest. “In such cases, the only option that such children have is when parents gift the immovable property to their daughter or any other child out of love who has been taking care of them,” said family lawyer Rida Tahir. She also emphasised that the Property Act of 1882 is voluntary and the donee must accept the gift in the life of the donor while the same law has been amended in 1985 where they need two attested witnesses to be present in the court to prove the immovable property as a gift.
Pakistan's rules about inheritance and succession are essentially grounded in Islamic doctrine, specifically in the teachings of the Quran and the Sunnah. Nevertheless, Pakistan's legal system also includes statutory law, which occasionally modifies or adds to these religious precepts.
Islamic inheritance rules apply to Muslims in Pakistan and come mostly from Sunni Hanafi and Shia Jafari jurisprudence, respectively. The allocation of a deceased person's estate among their heirs is governed by few laws. Certain heirs are entitled to fixed parts of the estate according to Islamic law. The shares are allotted by the Quran. If a widow has children, she is entitled to 1/8 of her husband's wealth; if not, she is entitled to 1/4. If his wife had children, the widower would inherit 1/4 of her estate; if not, he would receive 1/2.
Males are allocated twice as much as females. Daughters inherit the estate in the absence of sons, subject to different restrictions depending on whether or not there are other relatives.
If the deceased had children, each parent gets a set portion; if not, the mother can get a bigger share.
The closest male relative usually inherits the residual estate following the distribution of the fixed portions.
A person may leave up to one-third of their estate or their entire estate to non-heirs or charity organisations in accordance with Islamic law. The predetermined shares must be followed in allocating the remaining estate.
Funeral costs and the obligations of the deceased must be paid out of the estate prior to any distribution.
Pakistan has also enacted laws that codify certain areas of inheritance law. These laws are especially relevant when estate distribution needs to be clarified or enforced by statute law.
The Muslim Family Laws Ordinance of 1961 is one of the major laws affecting inheritance law, especially in relation to the idea of Sunnah, or children of the deceased son. This ordinance slightly deviates from Hanafi law in that it allows a predeceased son's children to inherit their father's share of the estate.
According to the 1962 Act for the Application of Shariat to Muslim Personal Law in Pakistan, Muslims' succession disputes shall be resolved in accordance with Sharia law as applied by their individual sects. It reaffirms that Muslims in Pakistan get their major source for inheritance and succession from Islamic law.
The 1925 Succession Act applies mostly to non-Muslims, but it also contains provisions that apply to Muslims in situations when Islamic law and statutory law collide, including when it comes to the appointment of legal representatives and the administration of wills.
Different regulations, most notably the Succession Act, 1925, control succession and inheritance for non-Muslims in Pakistan. This Act establishes, rather than according to religious law, the process for distributing the inheritance of non-Muslims who have passed away, such as Christians, Hindus, and others.
Pakistan has a high frequency of inheritance disputes because of the intricate relationship between statutory and Islamic law and also how parents don’t specifically make documentation in their lifetime. Disagreements over the application of Islamic law usually challenges to wills legality and brings out arguments concerning property distribution, particularly when there is a lack of precise documentation.
Typically, civil courts handle these conflicts and may consult Islamic scholars for guidance on matters of faith. Pakistani inheritance and succession laws combine statutory requirements with Islamic precepts. Islamic law serves as the cornerstone, but statutes such as the Succession Act and the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance are important for resolving modern concerns and guaranteeing fairness in inheritance cases.