Fiqh of Digital Inheritance

The phenomenon of digital inheritance has emerged as a contemporary legal and ethical issue in the modern world, following the rise of online assets, cloud storage, social media accounts, digital currencies, and virtual identities. With the integration of technology into daily life, many aspects of property ownership and transfer have evolved beyond the tangible realm, demanding renewed ijtihād (juristic reasoning) within the framework of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh). Scholars, both classical and modern, have explored inheritance law (fiqh al-mīrāth), but its extension to digital property remains a developing field. In classical Islamic law, the concept of inheritance revolves around the transfer of a deceased person’s tangible and intangible rights to rightful heirs, as established in the Qur’an and Sunnah. The Qur’an explicitly outlines the shares of heirs in Sūrat an-Nisāʾ (4:11–12, 176), while numerous traditions of the Prophet ﷺ emphasize justice, preservation of rights, and the avoidance of disputes among heirs. Jurists such as Imām Mālik, Abū Ḥanīfah, ash-Shāfiʿī, and Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal discussed in detail the classification of wealth (māl), ownership (milkiyyah), and the rules governing its distribution. However, their discourse was based on the forms of wealth known in their times — gold, silver, land, livestock, and tradable goods. Modern jurists have since expanded the concept of māl to include non-physical assets that possess monetary value or utility, such as copyrights, patents, and intellectual property. According to scholars like Dr. Wahbah az-Zuhaylī in al-Fiqh al-Islāmī wa Adillatuh, and Dr. Muhammad Sadiq al-Dareer, any property with lawful value and ownership can