Islamic law requires that daughters receive a share of their father’s estate upon his death. That share is not the equal of their brother’s share, but it is a share. Tribal culture in Saudi Arabia’s southern Asir Province, however, has a different custom: women don’t inherit. This is clearly a conflict between Islamic law and tribal law and it’s making the news.

Arab News carries this report on how women in the Asir are starting to assert their Islamic rights in the face of social blackmail.

Depriving women of inheritance rights

ABHA: A peculiar tribal practice in the southern province deprives women of their right to inherit shares in their fathers’ property. The reason given for this practice prevalent among certain tribes is to prevent the women’s husbands and kids from getting shares in the tribe’s wealth.

Only ten percent of women from these tribes ask for their share in inheritance while 90 percent do not dare break the longstanding taboo, according to a report in Al-Watan.

Mothers and grandmothers play the main role in convincing young women to forgo their shares in inheritance. They hold a big dinner party for neighbors and friends to celebrate the event. They also place two white flags in front of the house as a sign of pride that their women had given up their shares in favor of their brothers.

Some people in Asir province even say they don’t acknowledge women’s right of inheritance.
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