Prophetic Commentary on the Qur'an (Tafseer of the Prophet (pbuh))

Bukhari :: Book 6 :: Volume 60 :: Hadith 102

Narrated Ibn Abbas:

(In the Pre-Islamic Period ) the children used to inherit all the property but the parents used to inherit only through a will. So Allah cancelled that which He liked to cancel and put decreed that the share of a son was to be twice the share of a daughter, and for the parents one-sixth for each one of them, or one third, and for the wife one-eighth or one-fourth, and for the husband one-half, or one-fourth.