Special cases
Umariatan (العمريتان)
Two cases Caliph Umar ruled on, where the heirs are a spouse, the mother, and the father. The mother takes 1/3 of the remainder, not 1/3 of the total.
The Umariatan ("the two cases of Umar") are two cases where Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab gave a ruling that all four classical Sunni schools later 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
Applying the fixed shares directly would give:
- Husband (no children): 1/2
- Mother (no siblings): 1/3
- Father: residuary, gets what's left = 1/6
The problem is that the father, a male relative, ends up with less than the mother. Umar ruled that 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
The same logic applies with the wife's smaller share. Applied directly, the shares are:
- Wife (no children): 1/4
- Mother (no siblings): 1/3
- Father: residuary = 5/12
Under Umar's ruling the mother gets 1/3 of the remainder (3/4), which is 1/4 of the total:
- Wife: 1/4
- Mother: 1/4
- Father: 1/2
Why it matters
Umariatan is one of the cases people most often get wrong. A calculator that doesn't check for it gives the mother 1/3 of the total, and in a real distribution that's a big difference. FairShare checks for both versions.