Schools of thought (madhabs)
The General (majority Sunni) opinion
Follows the rulings the four Sunni schools agree on, and the majority view where they split. Use it if you don't follow one school in particular.
The General ruleset in FairShare follows the rulings the four Sunni schools (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali) agree on. Where they split on a well-known case, it goes with the majority. Use it if you don't follow one school in particular.
What it covers
All four schools give each fixed-share heir the same fraction. That shared ground covers most of Fara'id, and the General view follows the schools on:
- The six prescribed fractions (1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 2/3, 1/3, 1/6) and which heirs receive them.
- The blocking (Hajb) chain: son blocks son's son, father blocks paternal grandfather, etc.
- The Awl proportional reduction when shares overflow.
- The Radd surplus redistribution when shares fall short and no residuary is present.
Where it differs from individual schools
On the three named contested cases (Umariatan, Musharakah, Grandfather-with-siblings), General goes with the three schools that agree, not the one that dissents. In practice that means agreeing with Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali on the grandfather case; with Maliki and Shafi'i on Musharakah; and with Umar's ruling (which all four classical schools eventually adopted) on Umariatan.
When to pick a specific school
If you or your family follow one school as a matter of religious commitment, and especially if you're consulting a mufti from that school, choose it in the calculator. Most cases come out the same either way, but when one of the contested cases applies, the shares do change.