RIGHT OF ADOPTED CHILD TO INHERITANCE

In addition to the survey conducted, our group has undertaken an interview method to gain a deeper understanding of the topic assigned. The interview was conducted at 8.30 p.m. on 20 October 2020 using an online platform known as Zoom. The interviewee, Dr Fauziah bt Mohd Noor, is a senior academic practitioner from School of Law of Universiti Utara Malaysia. The interviewee was chosen as the most appropriate professional to address a series of questions pertaining to the field of Islamic Inheritance due to her thorough knowledge of Islamic Family Law, Islamic Banking, Islamic Jurisprudence and Islamic Land Law.

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A collection of plans was prepared before the interview took place. The individual for the interview was identified after a discussion in which the members of the group unanimously agreed to select the interviewee as the academic professional to be interviewed. Before the agreement was reached, several factors were considered as to whether we could obtain accurate answers to the questions from the interviewee and whether the interviewee would be willing to agree to the interview. Next, a set of standard questions, including the rights of adopted children in inheritance, their interest and how to protect their interests, were prepared for the interview with the prior consultation and approval of our lecturer. Subsequently, the interview commenced and the answers to questions were obtained.

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The interview was arranged to be conducted in a quiet and private setting to enable the development of a conducive atmosphere and the recording of responses. The interview started with the first question, which was answered with a summary of the sources of Islamic law. The interviewee clarified that the rules governing Muslim Inheritance Law were derived from the primary sources of Islamic Law. She explained that the inheritance would take place after considering the three key factors: blood ties, marriage and the relationship between the master and the slave. Since the adopted child does not come under any of three factors, the adopted child does not have inheritance rights under Islamic Family Law in Malaysia. However, the interviewee emphasised that adoptive parents could still distribute part of their estate to the adopted child in the form of hibah, wasiat or waqf, and most of the mazhabs agree on this point.

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As inferring from our observation, the interviewee appears to be very passionate and knowledgeable in the field of Islamic law, and she has given us great insights on the topic. The interviewee was contented to share her knowledge on the rights of adopted child towards inheritance as it is part of her expertise and passion. Instead of briefly answering the questions, she took the initiative to explain it in detail so that we could understand the concepts in depth. This obviously denotes her love for knowledge sharing and her Islamic faith. Through this interview, we were able to discern the differences in the rights of the adopted child and the biological child. In addition, we were also informed about the one-third rule and its implementation in the context of wasiat. In addition, we are also mindful of the need to track all attempts in distributing the properties to ensure that the parents' decisions to distribute are not contested by biological children upon the parents' demise.

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In fact, we are also being exposed to the necessary steps to raise awareness on this topic. To quote the interviewee, ‘injustice would take place if the adoptive parents are not aware of the methods of distributing their properties to the adopted children.’ Since it is possible for the adopted child to obtain their inheritance from their adoptive parents, steps should be taken to protect the interests of the adopted child by increasing public awareness of this issue. For example, a pre-marital awareness programme can be held as part of the agenda solely for the purpose of raising awareness and promoting adoption in Malaysia.

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The questions and answers of interview can be viewed below:

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