Per capita distribution

When a Muslim dies, the workbook describes two different ways the estate can be split among the heirs. Per capita distribution is the simpler of the two: divide the estate equally, one share per person.

It is the method used under Sunni law. Under it, the size of any one heir's share depends purely on a headcount, how many heirs there are in total, not on which branch of the family they belong to.

The rule, stated directly by the workbook: under per capita distribution, the estate left by the ancestor gets equally distributed among the heirs, so the share of each person depends on the number of heirs.

This sits against the workbook's other Muslim-law rules on distribution: there is no distinction between self-acquired and ancestral property. Everything a Muslim owned, however it was acquired, passes to the legal heirs on death. And female heirs generally receive half the share of a male heir of the same class, a rule that operates on top of, not instead of, the per capita or per strip method chosen: among 2 heirs of equal per capita entitlement, a son's share is twice his sister's, even though both are counted as one head each before that adjustment.

Per capita distribution is contrasted directly with per strip distribution, the method recognised in Shia law, where the share depends on which branch, or strip, of the family an heir belongs to, not simply on the total headcount.

A Sunni man dies leaving an estate of Rs 60,00,000 and 3 sons as his only heirs, a simplified illustration, since actual Islamic inheritance shares depend on the full set of surviving relatives.

Under per capita distribution, the estate is divided equally by headcount:

Estate                        Rs 60,00,000
Number of heirs                        3
Share per heir    = 60,00,000 / 3   = Rs 20,00,000

Each son receives an identical Rs 20,00,000, regardless of birth order or which side of the family he is closer to. The whole answer comes from dividing by the number of heirs.

Contrast a per strip case with the same Rs 60,00,000 estate, where the heirs are grouped into two family branches of unequal size: the total would instead be split branch by branch first, and only then divided among the individuals within each branch, a materially different outcome from simple equal division.

Chapter 14, section on the Rule of Distribution for Inheritance under Muslim law, states per capita and per strip as the two rules of distribution, immediately defining per capita as the Sunni-law equal-division method. Expect a direct question naming Sunni law with per capita distribution, and per strip with Shia law.

• Per capita is Sunni law; per strip is Shia law. The pairing is the most commonly tested fact in this passage.
• Per capita divides by headcount, not by family branch. Do not apply strip-based reasoning to a per capita question.
• This rule sits on top of the male and female half-share rule, not instead of it. Per capita headcount division and the female-heir discount both apply together in a real Muslim succession computation.
• There is no self-acquired versus ancestral property distinction in Muslim law, unlike under Hindu law. The entire estate, however acquired, is subject to whichever distribution rule applies.