Special cases
Umariatan (العمريتان)
Two named cases under Caliph Umar: spouse + mother + father, where the mother takes 1/3 of the remainder, not 1/3 of the total.
The Umariatan — "the two cases of Umar" — are a pair of named scenarios where Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab issued a distinctive ruling that all four classical Sunni schools eventually adopted.
The condition
Both cases require exactly three heirs: a spouse, a mother, and a father. No descendants and no siblings. If any other heir is present, the special rule doesn't apply.
Case 1: husband + mother + father
Naive fixed-share assignment would give:
- Husband (no children): 1/2
- Mother (no siblings): 1/3
- Father: residuary, gets what's left = 1/6
The unease: the father (a male relative) ends up with less than the mother. Umar's ruling: the mother takes 1/3 of the remainder (after the husband's 1/2), not 1/3 of the total estate. The result:
- Husband: 1/2
- Mother: 1/3 of 1/2 = 1/6 of the total
- Father: residuary takes the rest = 1/3
Now the father has more than the mother — preserving the 2:1 male/female pattern that runs through Fara'id.
Case 2: wife + mother + father
Same logic with the wife's smaller share. Naive assignment:
- Wife (no children): 1/4
- Mother (no siblings): 1/3
- Father: residuary = 5/12
Umar's ruling: mother gets 1/3 of the remainder (3/4) = 1/4 of the total:
- Wife: 1/4
- Mother: 1/4
- Father: 1/2
Why it matters
Umariatan is one of the most common "trick" scenarios in inheritance discussions. A naive calculator that doesn't detect it will give the mother 1/3 of the total — a meaningful error in real distributions. FairShare detects both forms automatically.