Inheritance Laws for Muslim Transgenders: Insights from Islamic Jurisprudence across Jurisdictions 2024 RSIL Law Review 2024

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2024 RSIL L. Rev. 54 (2024)
Inheritance Laws for Muslim Transgenders: Insights from Islamic Jurisprudence across Jurisdictions

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RSIL LAW REVIEW VOL. 8 2024

INHERITANCE LAWS FOR MUSLIM

TRANSGENDERS: INSIGHTS FROM ISLAMIC

JURISPRUDENCE ACROSS JURISDICTIONS

FREIHA JABEEN

Freiha Jabeen is a final year BA-LL.B (Lions) student at the Lahore University of
Management Sciences. Her areas of interest include gender justice, human rights and
constitutional law.

ABSTRACT

This article delves into the complex landscape of Islamic legal perspectives on sex change for
transgender individuals and their implications for inheritance rights. By examining various
legal frameworks and approaches adopted by different countries, this study sheds light on
the evolving discourse surrounding gender diversity within Islamic jurisprudence and the
nuanced interplay between medical and legal considerations in addressing transsexuality
within Islamic law. Rather than focusing on the process of firhad conducted by individual
schools of Islamic jurisprudence, this article explores how legal systems navigate the plurality
of jurisprudential interpretations to shape inheritance laws that accommodate the rights to
inheritance of transgender individuals.

KEYWORDS: Islamic Jurisprudence, Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS), Transgender,
Inheritance.

1. INTRODUCTION

The Islamic law of inheritance of property provides for the disinheritance of
a legal heir only in certain exceptional circumstances.' With regards to
inheritance for transgenders, the Supreme Court of Pakistan declared that an
individual cannot be disinherited merely because the deceased disapproves of
their gender expression.2 The Supreme Court did not delve into the
appropriate Islamic laws of inheritance applicable in cases of devolution of
property to a transgender heir. Later, the Federal Government sought to

1 Muhammad Zubair Abbasi and Shahbaz Ahmad Cheema, 'Inheritance Law' in Family Law in
Pakistan (Oxford University Press 2019).
2 Dr. MuhammadAslam Khaki and Others vs. S.S.P. (Operations) Rawalpindi and Others (PLD 2013 SC 188)

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