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What is the ruling of Islamic law and civil law regarding the division of a house that was purchased through the collective effort of the family, but one of the brothers claims full ownership of it, and can the brother who claimed to have bought the house take his share from its sale?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The fundamental principle is that the house belongs to the person in whose name it is registered. Therefore, if it was registered in your father's name, it is an inheritance to be divided among his heirs. Anyone who claims partnership in it must present evidence. The matter of dispute should be referred to the Sharia court. It is not possible to issue a fatwa (religious edict) regarding the ownership of the house by any specific heir, based on the Prophet's (peace be upon him) saying to Ali: "O Ali, when two litigants sit before you, do not judge between them until you hear from the second as you have heard from the first, for when you do so, the judgment will become clear to you."

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

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