AN EXPOSITORY STUDY ON THE INHERITANCE RIGHTS OF MISSING PERSONS (MAFQUD) UNDER ISLAMIC LAW IN NIGERIA: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF ESTATE AMONG HEIRS

Abstract

A person is said to be missing where he disappears and his whereabouts is not known and is not certain whether he is dead or alive, such a person is called a missing person (mafqud) under Islamic Law of Inheritance. The general rule is that since he is known to be alive but only disappeared, he must be taken as still alive and existing until the contrary is proved. The property of such a person must not be shared among his heirs and are to be reserved until his true situation is known, or substantial time had elapsed that there is strong assumption that is dead or there is judicial pronouncement to that effect. Thus, inheritance of a missing person (mafqud) lies on the arguments forwarded by each school of Islamic jurisprudence or jurists, because there is no provision from the Noble Qur’an and Sunnah. The methodology adopted in this research is qualitative research. It is the objective of this work to trace the history in order to identify what constitute inheritance of a missing person (mafqud), look into the provision of the Qur’an and Sunnah and see how the heirs are categorized, analyze what will be the position if a missing person returns after he is judicially pronounced dead and look into different arguments provided by different Islamic schools of thought in respect to inheritance of a missing person (mafqud). It is also the conclusion of this work that the property of missing person must not be shared among his heirs and are to be reserved until his true situation is known, or substantial time had elapsed that there is strong assumption that is dead or there is judicial pronouncement to that effect.