Does a daughter have a share in her father's property in Pakistan?

Who are the legal heirs (wirasat ke waris)

When a Muslim dies, his property does not wait for anyone's permission to pass. The Supreme Court put it plainly: "Immediately on the death of a person, his/her legal heirs become owners of his estate under Muslim law." (PLD 2021 SC 812, para 4)

The heirs the Supreme Court judgments below deal with are the children (sons and daughters), the parents, and the widow or widows. In 2025 SCMR 88 the Court restored a widow's inheritance after 25 years and ordered the estate distributed among all the legal heirs under Islamic shariah (para 7).

Grandchildren also step in when their own parent died first. Section 4 of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance gives them the share their father or mother would have taken.

“In the event of the death of any son or daughter of the propositus before the opening of succession, the children of such son or daughter, if any, living at the time the succession opens, shall per stripes receive a share equivalent to the share which such son or daughter, as the case may be, would have received if alive.”

Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, 1961 · Section 4, Succession

The shares a daughter takes

In PLD 2021 SC 812 the Supreme Court set out the Qur'anic shares for children and parents, in the translation of Abdullah Yusuf Ali: "to the male, a portion equal to that of two females; if only daughters, two or more, their share is two-thirds of the inheritance; if only one, her share is a half. For parents, a sixth share of the inheritance to each, if the deceased left children" (PLD 2021 SC 812, para 6)

• Daughter with brothersEach daughter takes half of what each son takes (PLD 2021 SC 812, para 6).
• Two or more daughters, no sonTogether they share two-thirds of the estate (para 6).
• One daughter, no sonShe takes half of the estate (para 6).
• Parents of the deceasedWhere the deceased left children, each parent takes one-sixth (para 6).

How to calculate wirasat: a worked example

The Supreme Court did this sum in PLD 2021 SC 812. The father left two sons and two daughters; his widow had died before him. Each daughter had claimed one-third. The Court recorded that, with a son taking twice a daughter's share, she was entitled to one-sixth, and she accepted the share the Sunni Hanafi fiqh gives her (para 12).

• Step 1: List the heirs alive on the date of deathOwnership passes on that day (PLD 2021 SC 812, para 4). Add the children of any son or daughter who died earlier (Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, 1961, s.4).
• Step 2: Count the children in unitsEach son counts as two units and each daughter as one. Two sons and two daughters make six units.
• Step 3: DivideOne unit is one-sixth, so each daughter takes 1/6 and each son 2/6 (PLD 2021 SC 812, para 12).
• Step 4: Check for other heirsIf a widow or a parent is alive, their fixed share changes the sum. Have the revenue office or court work it out under your fiqh; the Court in PLD 2021 SC 812 applied the Sunni Hanafi fiqh (para 13).
• Step 5: Get the inheritance mutation recordedIn PLD 2021 SC 812 the Court directed the department to prepare the inheritance mutation and deliver possession to every heir as per their shares (para 13).

Her share cannot be taken by mutation, delay or a signed waiver

A wrong mutation does not end her ownership. The Supreme Court held that a wrong revenue entry does not "oust the sisters from their ownership of the joint property as the devolution of the ownership of the property on legal heirs of a person takes place under the Islamic law of inheritance immediately on the death of that person without any intervention of anyone and without the sanction of the inheritance mutation in the revenue record." (PLD 2023 SC 362, para 11). Our page on mutation (intiqal, 2024 SCMR 938) covers this in more detail.

A paper saying she gave up her share is treated with deep suspicion. The person relying on it must show she parted with her share "by choice and for considerations, consciously, without duress or uncalled for persuasions, by those placed qua her in advantageous positions." (2020 SCMR 352, para 4). In 2025 SCMR 88 a widow's Razi Nama was set aside: even if she signed it, "it was wholly without consideration which would make it inconsequential." (2025 SCMR 88, para 3). And in 2021 SCMR 179 the Court said "Purported gifts and other tools used to deprive female family members, including daughters and widows, are contrary to law (shariah in such cases), the Constitution and public policy." (2021 SCMR 179, para 9)

Delay is not fatal either, but do not sit on it. The Court said "Limitation never run against fraud, more so in the matters involving inheritance rights of a female" (2020 SCMR 352, para 4). In PLD 2023 SC 362 it explained that a six-year limit runs once the brothers openly deny her rights, for example by selling the land as sole owners, and that where this is hidden by fraud, time runs from when she learns of it (paras 11 and 12). Our page on a sister's share kept alive despite delay (PLD 2026 SC 42) tells one such story.

Depriving a woman of inheritance is a crime

Since 2011 the Pakistan Penal Code has a separate offence for this. The Supreme Court has called such deprivation "not merely an invasion into proprietary rights of a woman but a criminal offence punishable under section 498-A of the Pakistan Penal Code" (2020 SCMR 352, para 4).

Schedule II of the Criminal Procedure Code lists the offence as not bailable and not compoundable, triable by the Court of Sessions.

“Whoever by deceitful or illegal means deprives any woman from inheriting any movable or immovable property at the time of opening of succession shall be punished with imprisonment for either description for a term which may extend to ten years but not be less than five years or with a fine of one million rupees or both.”

PPC · Section 498-A, Prohibition of depriving woman from inheriting property

In Punjab: a complaint to the Ombudsperson

In Punjab, a woman kept out of her property can also complain to the Ombudsperson under the Punjab Enforcement of Women's Property Rights Act 2021. The Ombudsperson can refer the matter to the Deputy Commissioner for a summary enquiry and, if she was illegally deprived, direct that possession or title be restored to her (sections 4 and 5), preferably within sixty days of the complaint (section 4(5)). If a court case about the property is pending, section 7 still allows a complaint.

We could not confirm an equivalent law in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or Balochistan in FAI's statute index. Women there use the civil court and section 498-A PPC.

“(1) Any woman deprived of ownership or possession of her property, by any means, may file a complaint to the Ombudsperson if no proceedings in a court of law are pending regarding that property”

Punjab Enforcement of Women's Property Rights Act 2021 · Section 4, Complaint to the Ombudsperson in case no proceedings in a court of law are pending

What this does not mean

• This page covers Muslim heirs. Shares differ for non-Muslims and can differ between Sunni and Shia fiqh; the worked example follows the Sunni Hanafi approach used in PLD 2021 SC 812.
• The table shows only the shares the judgments above state. With a widow, parents or other relatives alive, the exact fractions need a full calculation.
• A delay is not always forgiven: where a sister knew of an open denial and waited past the limit, a suit can fail (PLD 2023 SC 362).

Questions people ask

Sources

• Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, 1961 · Section 4
  Succession Pakistan Code
• PPC · Section 498-A
  Prohibition of depriving woman from inheriting property
• Punjab Enforcement of Women's Property Rights Act 2021 · Section 4
  Complaint to the Ombudsperson in case no proceedings in a court of law are pending
• Ghulam Qasim v. Mst. Razia Begum, PLD 2021 SC 812 (Supreme Court of Pakistan, 25 June 2021)
  Heirs own the estate from the moment of death; a son takes twice a daughter's share, so with two sons and two daughters each daughter takes one-sixth.
• Saadat Khan v. Shahid-ur-Rehman, PLD 2023 SC 362 (Supreme Court of Pakistan, 23 September 2021)
  A wrong inheritance mutation does not oust sisters; six-year limit runs from an open denial, or from discovery of fraud.
• Shabla v. Ms. Jahan Afroz Khilat, 2020 SCMR 352 (Supreme Court of Pakistan, 13 November 2019)
  Heavy onus on anyone claiming a woman gave up her inheritance; depriving her is an offence under s.498-A PPC.
• Farhan Aslam v. Mst. Nuzba Shaheen, 2021 SCMR 179 (Supreme Court of Pakistan, 27 November 2020)
  Purported gifts and other tools to deprive daughters and widows are contrary to shariah, the Constitution and public policy.
• Mst. Aksar Jan v. Mst. Shamim Akhtar, 2025 SCMR 88 (Supreme Court of Pakistan, 25 September 2024)
  A Razi Nama giving up inheritance without consideration is inconsequential; costs of Rs. 500,000 imposed on those who deprived a widow.

Every quote and section above is traced to the full judgment or statute text by an automatic check that runs on every update.