AZAZ, Syria (North Press) – The 38-year-old Warda al-Ibrahim, a pseudonym for an IDP of Idlib countryside residing in the Turkish-controlled city of Azaz, in the northern countryside of Aleppo, said as a result of being deprived of inheritance by her father, estrangement emerged between her and her brothers that reached to the extent of hatred after the father had died.
The father justified his behavior that she cannot do land work and saw that her younger brother has the right to own the house to reside in.
Women of the countryside of Aleppo and Idlib say being disinherited and deprived of their shares of the family inheritance has irrevocable impact on ties among family members and relatives.
Al-Ibrahim said her father was not an exception and that she had expected that her father would do the same as his brothers and her grandfather.
“Most of the families that disinherit their daughters of their shares of inheritance believe that the money will go to strangers including son or brother-in-law even if he is one of the relatives,” al-Ibrahim added.
“They justify their behavior with pre-prepared pretexts.”
Underestimation
Before his death, Warda’s father registered shares, including a land in the southern countryside of Idlib in addition to a shop and a house, of each family member, except for the females, in the government registry.
“I used to work, as my brothers did, in the land and picked up olives and harvested vegetables,” Warda noted.
“What is my fault to be deprived of my right to inherit otherwise I am not worthy of my family,” she wondered.
Every woman, who is disinherited and deprived of her legal right to inherit according to the Holy Quran and law, will have those thoughts, according to Warda.
As for the 39-year-old Khadija al-Tawil, a resident of Kafr Kalbin, northern countryside of Aleppo, her older brother kicked her out of the family house after her father had died.
The brother sold the house in order to buy a shop in light of the deteriorating economic conditions and lack of job opportunities over the past years and forced his sister to reside at the house of their brother.
Meanwhile, al-Tawil’s brother could not sell a land of them because it is located near the frontlines between Syrian armed factions and Syrian government forces, according to her.
“He took me out of the house and sold it without giving me my share of the inheritance although I demanded several times, as our father put his will,” she noted.
However, Khadija has nothing to do but to be silent since she has nobody to defend her and no legal and justice institution in the region to guarantee her rights.
Not to mention the shortage of her clothing and personal requirements in addition to preventing her from visiting her friends and neighbors.
Social decency
Males take advantage of societal custom to marginalize the role of women and deprive them of inheritance, although Syrian law includes many articles that affirm women’s right to inheritance, Hussein al-Rashed, a pseudonym for a lawyer residing in the northern countryside of Aleppo, said.
Females are disinherited of their shares either by fathers or the brothers, al-Rashed added.
Some sons force one of the parents to register properties in their names or exploit their health condition to obtain assignment or sale documents.
In order not to raise disputes and estrangements, the disinherited women accept things the way they are despite the injustice they witness.
In some cases, they solve the issue by granting the inherited woman a sum of money in order to relinquish her inheritance in lands and real estate that are much more than those sums.
As for resorting to judiciary, Syrian women rarely resort to judiciary for sake of obtaining their rights to inherit due to social decency.
The female inheritance is complicated and complex since it is a true battle against norms and traditions that still pose their power over minds of some people contradicting the Sharia and law, according to al-Rashed.