Depriving Males of Inheritance between Sharia and Social Custom: The Minang Kabau Community in West Sumatra as a Model

Abstract

This research aims to study the custom of the Mingkabau community in West Sumatra in the matter of distributing financial rights, and to clarify the position of Sharia concerning their circulation comparable to social traditions and norms. Astonishingly enough, this Sumatran society has unique habits in that it allocates the division of rights to take place among females absolutely and excludes males. That is because it is common among Muslims that males deprive females of their right to inherit, but that males are deprived of inheritance, this is what we did not expect. The research relied on the inductive approach to extrapolate and study the inheritance system in Islam according to what was mentioned in the Holy Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet, as well as the custom of the Mingkabau community in West Sumatra by referring to the writings of scholars specialized in that and their interpretations, and it relies on the analytical method by analyzing the position of Sharia for this application. The study reached several results, the most important of which are: that the Mingkabo community adhered to a certain matriarchal system; Children and grandchildren carry their lineage to the mother in social life, considering the genetic and legal documentation of their fathers. On the other hand, the system of inheritance according to the custom of the Mingkabo society is of two types: the first: high inheritance; This type of inheritance does not contradict Islamic law, but rather has a basis in religion, because the reality of this inheritance is like a waqf. The second type: low inheritance; There is no disagreement among Islamic scholars regarding this type, because its distribution adheres to the provisions of Islamic legal inheritance.