Why do women inherit less than men according to the Holy Qur’an?

Because inheritance is part of a whole system of duties. The man must provide for his wife and children, while the woman may keep all her wealth for herself. On balance, Islam is rather generous towards women.

Anyone who criticises Islam because of its inheritance law should first ask what they are comparing it with. For a long time women in many cultures inherited nothing at all. In the West too, the estate often went to the eldest son alone, and even the younger sons received nothing. The Holy Qur’an, by contrast, gave women a fixed share many centuries ago, as the first verse above shows.

To understand the different shares, one has to look at the whole system. Inheritance is only one part of it. In Islam a man is obliged to provide for himself, his wife and his children. A woman has no such duty. Whatever she inherits, earns or is given belongs to her alone. She does not have to spend any of it on the household.

An example makes this clear. A brother and a sister inherit from their parents. The brother receives twice as much, but later has to support a wife and children from it. The sister receives half, but keeps all of it, and her husband is obliged to provide for her. In the end she is often better off than he is.

This also explains why a wife receives a smaller share of her husband’s estate, even though she supported him all her life. The shares follow economic duties, not a person’s worth. Whoever carries the burden receives more means to carry it.

Measured by rights and duties together, Islam is therefore not stingy towards women, but generous.