Advocates delve into landmark ruling on inheritance for kids born out of wedlock

In their judgment, Supreme Court judges emphasized the need to balance the application of Muslim personal law with constitutional protections.

The court cited Article 24(4), which permits the limitation of certain rights under personal laws such as Islamic law, but stressed that such limitations must be reasonable, justifiable, and narrowly defined.

This is after Fatuma Athman Abud Faraj, who had sought to exclude the children of her late husband, Salim Juma Hakeem Kitendo, from his estate on grounds that they were born outside a recognized Islamic marriage, lost the case.

Faraj, who had four children with the deceased within a formal Islamic union, argued that children sired outside wedlock by Kitendo were illegitimate under Islamic law and should not benefit from the inheritance.

Advocates of the high Court of Kenya, one of them born out of wedlock, now delve into the ruling, arguing that it is a turning point in the history of the Kenya on matters succession.