Faraid is the Muslim law of inheritance, a system of fixed shares that determines who inherits from a deceased person’s estate and how much each person receives. Under the Administration of Muslim Law Act, the estate of a Muslim domiciled in Singapore is distributed according to Muslim law rather than under the Intestate Succession Act that applies to non-Muslims.
In practice this means two institutions matter. The Syariah Court issues an inheritance certificate stating who the beneficiaries are and what share each takes. The Family Justice Courts then handle the grant that gives someone legal authority to collect the assets and distribute them. This article explains the structure. It deliberately does not attempt a share table, because faraid calculations turn on exactly which relatives survive, and getting that wrong has real consequences for real families.
What faraid is
Faraid allocates the estate by relationship. Rather than the deceased choosing who receives what, the rules identify categories of heirs and assign each a share, with the shares adjusting depending on who else has survived. It is a system of entitlement, not of discretion.
Two features surprise people coming to it from a civil-law background. The first is that the shares are not equal and are not meant to be. They reflect a structure of obligations within the family, and a person’s share can change depending on which other relatives are alive. The second is that the deceased’s own wishes have only a narrow role, discussed below.
Because the rules interact, a family cannot reliably work out its own shares from first principles. A surviving parent, a surviving spouse, the presence or absence of a son, whether a grandchild’s parent predeceased: each of these can alter the outcome. This is precisely why the Syariah Court issues certificates rather than leaving families to calculate.
Who the heirs are, in general terms
Heirs under faraid fall into broad groups:
- The surviving spouse: a husband or wife takes a share, and the size of that share commonly depends on whether the deceased left children.
- Children: sons and daughters are among the primary heirs, and daughters’ entitlements can differ depending on whether there are also sons.
- Parents: a surviving father and mother generally have entitlements of their own, again affected by whether there are children.
- Other relatives: grandparents, siblings, and more distant relations may inherit where closer heirs do not survive, or may be excluded entirely where they do.
The critical principle is exclusion. Some heirs block others. A relative who would inherit in one family structure receives nothing in another, simply because a nearer heir survived. This is why “my aunt got a quarter, so I should too” is not a safe assumption.
Note also who is not an heir. Under faraid, persons outside the recognised categories of heirs, which can include a non-Muslim relative, an adopted child in the legal sense of adoption, or a stepchild, do not take a faraid share. Families in that position often have real planning needs, which is where the instruments below become relevant.
Wills: the one-third position
A Muslim in Singapore can make a will, but its reach is limited. The general position is that a bequest may be made of up to one-third of the estate to persons who are not faraid heirs, with the remaining two-thirds distributed according to faraid. A bequest that exceeds the one-third limit, or that is made in favour of someone who is already an heir, may require the consent of the other heirs to take effect.
That one-third is genuinely useful. It is the route by which a person can provide for a non-Muslim family member, a charitable purpose, a long-term carer, or a child who is not an heir under faraid. But it is narrow, and the drafting has to be right. Whether a particular bequest is valid in a particular family is a question for MUIS or the Syariah Court, not for a template. The general mechanics of making a will and proving it in Singapore are covered in our guide to wills and probate, though the distribution rules there apply to non-Muslim estates.
Nuzriah and hibah
Two instruments come up constantly in Muslim estate planning in Singapore, and both are commonly used where a person wants a particular family member, often a spouse, a daughter, or a child with care needs, to receive more than the faraid share would give.
Hibah
A hibah is a gift made during the giver’s lifetime. Because the asset is transferred while the giver is alive, it is generally no longer part of the estate at death and so is not distributed under faraid. The essential feature is that it is a genuine, completed gift, with the requirements that Muslim law imposes on gifts actually satisfied. An intention to give that never takes effect in practice does not achieve the result.
Nuzriah
A nuzriah is a vow or pledge, structured so that a specified asset passes to a named person on conditions relating to the maker’s death. It is used to achieve outcomes that a will alone could not, and it is subject to its own formal requirements.
Both instruments are technical, and both can be set aside or fail if not properly constituted. MUIS provides guidance on wasiat, hibah and nuzriah, and it is the source worth consulting before committing to a structure. Do not draft either from a downloaded form.
Assets that sit outside the estate
A significant part of most families’ wealth in Singapore never enters the estate at all, and therefore is not distributed under faraid.
CPF savings
CPF monies do not pass under a will and are not distributed as part of the estate in the ordinary way. Where the member made a valid CPF nomination, the CPF Board pays the nominated persons directly. Where there is no nomination, the savings are dealt with through the Public Trustee, and Muslim law considerations can apply to how they are distributed. Because a nomination overrides what a will says, it is one of the highest-value things to review. See how CPF nominations work on death.
Jointly held property
How a property is held changes what happens to it. Property held as joint tenants carries a right of survivorship, so the surviving owner takes the whole by operation of law; property held as tenants in common leaves the deceased’s share in the estate. The distinction is explained in our guide to joint tenancy versus tenancy in common. Whether and how survivorship interacts with faraid in a given case is a question that should be put to the Syariah Court or MUIS rather than assumed. Families have been caught out by both possible assumptions.
Insurance and other nominated benefits
Insurance policies with nominations, and certain other nominated benefits, may be payable to the nominee rather than forming part of the estate. Again the terms of the specific nomination matter.
The practical sequence after a death
- Register the death and obtain the death certificate.
- Apply to the Syariah Court for an inheritance certificate, which requires details of the surviving relatives. The certificate states the beneficiaries and their shares.
- Apply to the Family Justice Courts for the grant (probate where there is a valid will, or letters of administration where there is not) so that someone has authority to deal with the assets.
- Collect and value the assets, settle debts and any funeral expenses, and deal separately with CPF, insurance and jointly held property according to their own rules.
- Distribute in accordance with the inheritance certificate, keeping records of what was paid to whom.
Family members sometimes agree among themselves to distribute differently from the certificate, for instance adult siblings agreeing that a widowed mother should keep the flat. Whether that is done as a distribution followed by a gift, or in some other way, has consequences, and it is worth taking advice rather than handling it informally.
Where to get an answer you can rely on
The Syariah Court and MUIS are the authoritative bodies. The Syariah Court issues inheritance certificates and can explain the application process; MUIS provides guidance on wasiat, hibah, nuzriah and related religious questions. Between them they can tell you what applies to your family, which no general article can.
Two situations especially warrant proper advice: blended families and families with non-Muslim members, where the interaction between faraid and the one-third bequest needs careful handling; and estates with property or business interests, where the mechanics of transfer matter as much as the shares. If you also need help with the civil side (the grant, the transfer of property, or a related family matter), we can connect you with a licensed Singapore law practice. Where the estate arises out of a marriage that ended, our guide to Muslim divorce in Singapore covers the separate question of how the Syariah Court deals with matrimonial matters.
