Discussing daughters’ rights, 35000 ft above the ground

By Mohammed Wajihuddin
The plane was cruising at around 35000 ft above the ground. The seat belt sign had been switched off. From my window seat, nothing but a wing of the plane floating amidst flakes of cloud could be seen.
Two sisters, in their mid-30s, occupied the middle and aisle seat next to each other in the same row. They spoke a mix of Urdu and Maithli, a kind of dialect spoken in many districts of North Bihar.

The sister occupying the middle seat asked me, “Sir, aapne kab ticket liya tha (when did you buy the air ticket)”? I said I had bought it a week ago and paid around Rs 6000 from Delhi to Darbhanga. Her jaw dropped. “We bought it the previous evening and paid Rs 13000 for each ticket. Our father has died and we are going for his funeral,” she said, her voice choked with sadness.
“Innalillahe wa inna alaihe rajeoon (from Him we come and to Him we return,” I said.

But perhaps to clear her doubt, the sister sitting next to me asked: “Aap Muslim hain (Are you a Muslim”? I said yes. I asked her if someone would come to pick them up at the airport. She said her elder sister’s son would come.

Once convinced that I was someone she could share some of her personal pains with, the sister began speaking about her three brothers.
“Teeno zalim hain (all three are oppressors). My father gave all his properties to them. Till the time the lands were with my father, the brothers took care of him. Once he transferred the lands to his three sons, they began misbehaving with him. He died a sad man,” she sobbed.

Shocked, I asked if the father gave the daughters their share. She said no. She added that the father died also because he was in deep pain since his youngest daughter died of a heart attack a couple of months ago.

I asked if the brothers’ behaviour with the sisters was fine. “No. They were angry with our father also because he showed excessive love to us sisters,” she said. Yet, the father denied his daughters their share in his property.

Islam gives a daughter share in her father’s property even after she has been married off. But if the father has gifted his entire property to sons or one of his sons, the daughters lose their rights to inheritance.

This is not the unique situation we were discussing 35000 ft above the ground. Traditionally, daughters forego their share in father’s property in favour of brothers. Claiming the daughters’ share in parents’ wealth is still taboo in our society.

Which is why fathers must gift the daughters’ share in their properties while they are alive. Do not trust your son or sons that they will do justice to their sisters. “Beta ki mohabbat mein beti ke sath na insaafi mat karna ( Do not do injustice to daughter in blind love with your sons)” is what the wise men said aeons ago.

When fathers write off their entire wealth to their children while they are still alive, they actually cut off their own hands. They sever the very source of dignity. They become vulnerable and begin depending on the children’s doles.

We have an infamous example of a big industrialist who gifted his millions to his only son and later had to regret as the son denied money needed for his upkeep.

I was lost in all these thoughts when the pilot announced that the plane had begun descending. The sisters did not know how and when they would get their checked-in luggage. I told them they would get it on arrival. A bus took us to the arrival terminal. The sisters collected their luggage. We parted ways.

I boarded the car my father-in-law had sent to fetch me from the airport. While enjoying mangoes, makhana and macchli (fish), three things abundantly available in Mithilanchal, I feel sorry for the sisters who just lost their beloved father. I do not know how their brothers are treating them. Perhaps loss of the family head has softened the boys’ heart. And they are now kind to their sisters.

Even if the daughters have legally lost their right to the father’s property, the brothers must show magnanimity and give back the sisters what is their due.

(The author Mohammed Wajihuddin is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Times of India, Mumbai. Earlier, he worked with the Indian Express and the Asian Age. This article is taken from one of his social media posts.)