Supreme Court to examine applicability of Shariat to ex-Muslims over inheritance

Amid concerns over inheritance being challenged if an individual who renounced Islam made it testamentary under the Indian Succession Act rather than following Muslim Personal Law (Shariat), the Supreme Court has agreed to examine the matter, in response to a plea questioning the applicability of Shariat law to a person who is no longer a believer.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjeev Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar has tagged the plea filed by Naushad K K, a lawyer from Kerala, with another pending petition by Safiya P M, a former Muslim. Safiya had sought a declaration that individuals who renounce Islam should not be subjected to Muslim personal law, particularly in matters of inheritance, and should instead be governed by secular law under the Indian Succession Act, The Indian Express reported.

Naushad’s petition does not challenge the validity of Muslim Personal Law itself but seeks judicial recognition of an individual’s right to testamentary autonomy. He argued that if a Muslim voluntarily chooses to opt out of the inheritance restrictions under the Shariat, the State should not impose religious mandates against such a decision, especially when it infringes upon fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

The plea pointed out that under Muslim Personal Law, a Muslim can bequeath only up to one-third of their estate through a will, and this portion is further restricted among Sunni Muslims to non-heirs. The remaining two-thirds must be distributed among legal heirs in accordance with fixed Islamic principles, and any deviation from this structure is considered invalid unless consent is obtained from all legal heirs.

Naushad contended that these restrictions on testamentary freedom stand in contrast to how the State treats other religious mandates, which are not enforced upon individual choice, thereby creating a discriminatory precedent. He argued that the State does not enforce religious obligations such as prayer, fasting, or dietary restrictions, and therefore enforcing testamentary restrictions alone constitutes arbitrary action.

The petition further drew attention to cases where Muslims marry under the Special Marriage Act, 1954, and are presumed to have opted out of Muslim Personal Law in its entirety, including inheritance rules, without an explicit declaration. However, when Muslims attempt to assert testamentary freedom through wills that diverge from Shariat-based restrictions, such wills are often declared invalid.