Ghulam Ali v. Ghulam Sarwar Naqvi, PLD 1990 SC 1 (Pakistan)

The case involves the division of inherited property among three brothers and one sister. In one of the properties, the sister was deprived of her share and she filed suit to claim it. The brothers argued that the deprivation of her share is due to the expenses they incurred when she divorced twice, and when they were involved in a murder case due to her divorce. The court held that, based on the Islamic law of inheritance, as soon as an owner dies, succession to his, property opens. There is no State intervention or clergy intervention needed for the passing of the title immediately to the heirs. Thus, there being no vesting of the estate of the deceased for an interregnum in anyone like an executor or administrator, it devolves on the heirs automatically, and immediately in definite shares and fractions. As a corollary, if the State, the Court, the clergy, the executor or the administrator does not intervene, no other body intervenes on any other principle, authority or relationship ‑‑ even of kinship. Thus the brother, the father, husband or son cannot intervene as an intermediary.