How to Use the FaraidHub Janazah & Estate Guide
The Janazah & Estate Guide is a reading guide, not a calculator — it walks you through what to do, why, and in what order, from the moment of a Muslim's death through to Faraid distribution. It doesn't ask you to enter a single number. This post explains how to actually use it: what to read first, when to bring in FaraidHub's calculators, and a worked example showing the two working together.
What the Guide Covers, Step by Step
The guide is organised as seven steps, each answering what to do, why, and how:
- Step 1: In the Moments After Death — closing the eyes, covering the body, who to call first.
- Step 2: Ghusl, Kafan and Salat al-Janazah — what happens at each stage and why.
- Step 3: The Burial — what to expect at the graveside.
- Step 4: In the Days After — Ta'ziyah and accepting support from your community.
- Step 5: Your Obligations as an Heir — the fixed order: funeral costs, debts, Wasiyyah, then Faraid.
- Step 6: Working Out the Actual Figures — where the guide hands off to the calculators.
- Step 7: What You Can Still Do for Them — dua and ongoing charity after the estate is settled.
Read First, Calculate Second
Steps 1 through 4 are about the Janazah itself — there's nothing to work out, just what to do, and in practice your local mosque or an Islamic burial society will guide you through most of it directly. Steps 5 through 7 are where the estate comes in, and that's where the guide's job changes from explaining to pointing you somewhere else: the actual arithmetic lives in FaraidHub's calculators, not on the guide page.
That split is deliberate. Faraid shares are easy to get wrong by hand, and small mistakes compound across multiple heirs — the calculators exist specifically so the numbers don't have to be your problem once you know what to enter.
A Worked Example — From Numbers to Faraid Shares
Suppose a woman passes away leaving a gross estate of R900,000. Her family has R15,000 in funeral costs, R40,000 in outstanding debts (including R5,000 in unpaid Zakat), and no Wasiyyah. She is survived by her husband and two sons.
Following the order in Step 5 of the guide:
- Funeral costs come off first: R900,000 − R15,000 = R885,000.
- Debts come off next: R885,000 − R40,000 = R845,000 net estate.
- There's no Wasiyyah in this case, so nothing further is deducted.
R845,000 is now the figure that goes into the Inheritance Calculator. Enter it as the net estate, add a husband and two sons as heirs, and the calculator works out each person's fixed Quranic share automatically, with the reasoning shown for every figure — no need to work out the fractions by hand.
If the family hadn't been sure of the R5,000 Zakat figure inside that R40,000 of debts, the right move would have been to work it out first with the Zakat Calculator, then fold the result into the debts total before touching the Inheritance Calculator at all.
| Step | What It's For | Where to Calculate |
|---|---|---|
| 1–4. Janazah | What to do, in order, right after a death | No calculation — read only |
| 5. Heir Obligations | The correct order: funeral, debts, Wasiyyah, Faraid | No calculation — read only |
| 6. The Figures | Turning your net estate and heirs into Faraid shares | Inheritance Calculator |
| — | Unpaid Zakat owed by the deceased | Zakat Calculator |
| — | Planning ahead, before any of this applies | Will Generator |
| 7. Ongoing Duty | Dua and charity on the deceased's behalf | No calculation — read only |
Frequently Asked Questions
Read the Guide
A calm, step-by-step walk-through of what to do when a Muslim passes away — the Janazah, your obligations as an heir, and the correct order for funeral costs, debts, Wasiyyah and Faraid. Free PDF included.
Open the Janazah & Estate Guide →