Inheritance across faiths

The report is quoted in half, and the half that is dropped is the half that answers the objection.

The report in full

Sahih Muslim, book 011, no. 3928. The Prophet said: a Muslim is not entitled to inherit from a non-Muslim, and a non-Muslim is not entitled to inherit from a Muslim.

The rule runs in both directions. It is symmetrical on its face, in a single sentence, and the polemic works by citing the first clause and stopping.

The principle

Islamic inheritance operates under fara’id (the fixed shares of inheritance law), a defined system that governs the transfer of wealth within the community it binds. Judaism and Christianity have historically maintained comparable confessional boundaries around inheritance and communal obligation. Every legal order that recognises a religious community defines who stands inside it for such purposes.

The rule imposes no disability on the non-Muslim that it does not impose equally on the Muslim. It is a boundary, and boundaries by their nature face both ways.

The method

Truncating a sentence in order to reverse its sense is a specific technique, and it recurs across this material. It is worth learning to recognise, because once recognised it is difficult to unsee, and it substantially reduces the force of the rest of the case.

Read the second clause. Then ask why it was not shown to you.