ABSTRACT
Introduction By definition, Islamic territory (dar ai-Islam) is ruled by the Muslim community (al-umma al-muslima). This community is, on one hand, at least latently in conflict with other religious communities outside or inside Islamic territory, and, on the other, opposed to tribal feeling. The Prophet Muhammad, who is said to have once conceived a community based entirely on religion instead of tribal feeling, finally recognized the family, a group based on consanguinity or affinity, as the most important social unit to which an individual belongs. This idea is represented by the inheritance system introduced by the Qur'an (most importantly by Qur'an, 4: 11-12), which gave inheritance rights to widows and daughters for the first time. This system also excludes non-family members, whether entirely or partly, from the succession to which they had hitherto been entitled: the confederate (balif) has entirely lost his inheritance share; I the mawla (the former owner
I In the pre-Islamic period, a bi/f conluded between two persons (then called balifs) created a fictional consanguinity by virtue of which the (lalif who survived his partner had inheritance rights. This contract, which is confirmed by Qur'an, 4: 33, was abolished in Islamic law. al-San'ani, Abo Bakr 'Abd al-Razzaq b. Hammam b. Nafi', Tafsir al-Qur'iin, ed. Mu~tala Muslim Mubammad, 3 vols. (Riyadh: Maktabat al-Rushd li'I-Nashr wa al-Tawzi', 1410/1989), I: 157; al-Tabari, AbU Ja'far Mubammad b. Jarir, Jamic alBayanfi Tafsir al-Qur'an, 30 vols. (Beirut: Dar al-Ma'rifa li'1-Tibaca wa alNashr, 1400/1980),5: 33-37.
