Jaba Ali Al-Zayadi belongs to a Tihama Asir tribe which does not give share in inheritance to women on the basis that what they inherit will go to their husbands and children when they die. But Jaba, who is a 70-year-old widow, refused to live by tribal norms and traditions that date back to the pre-Islamic era. She demanded a share in her father's inheritance, and won a court decision to this effect. “I was the first woman to demand a legal share in inheritance. I was ostracized because I went against the tribal norms,” Jaba told Okaz/Saudi Gazette. Her brothers tried all means to deprive her of her share. When the Supreme Court rejected their case, they offered her SR300,000 to change her mind and not to pursue the case. Hurdles after hurdles were created in her way. When she refused to accept her brothers' bribe and decided to pursue her case, one of the witnesses failed to turn up in the court. Feeling frustrated, Jaba started to invoke the help of Allah the Almighty. Help came. The imam of the mosque near her house went to the witness and convinced him to give his testimony in the court. The witness testified before the judge that Jaba was one of the legal heirs and she deserved a share in inheritance. “I have a child and I'm an old woman. They wanted to deprive me of my share in inheritance on pre-Islamic traditions and norms. They didn't consider my old age,” she said about her brothers. __
