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Is the eldest brother considered sinful towards his brother if he sells the house registered in his name to pay off the father's debts, while one of the brothers opposes selling the house and paying off the debts, and the rest agree?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The rights pertaining to the inheritance must be fulfilled before its division, such as real rights (rights in rem), debts, expenses of preparing the deceased for burial, and bequests. The Quran stipulates that debts and bequests take precedence over inheritance. So, if a man dies indebted, his debts must first be paid from his wealth, and the heirs are not permitted to divide the inheritance before that. If he has no wealth other than his house, and the debt cannot be paid except by selling it, then it must be sold to settle the debt. This is to absolve the deceased's soul, as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "The soul of a believer is suspended by his debt until it is paid off."

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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