Thus, the one whose inherited share would have been one half receives one third. The bequest has therefore not been diminished: the beneficiary of the bequest is given the full thirty—one full third—whereas the inheritance is diminished, because the bequest takes precedence over it. This is why the one entitled to one half receives one third in this case.
Reflect, my brother: when you die, where does the wealth you have accumulated go? It goes toward necessary matters: burial preparations, debts you owe, or to others. In reality, your wealth is what you sent ahead during your lifetime as a means of drawing nearer to Allah, exalted is He; as for what you leave behind, it is not yours.
THE CAUSES OF INHERITANCE ARE KINSHIP, MARRIAGE, AND CLIENTAGE; THE HEIRS ARE FIXED-SHARE HEIRS, RESIDUARY HEIRS, AND DISTANT KINDRED, …
Then know that inheritance, like other matters, has causes, conditions, and impediments. Hence he said: “The causes of inheritance are kinship, marriage, and clientage.” Kinship means blood relationship: the connection between two people through a near or distant lineage. Your paternal cousin is a relative, because you are connected through lineage and meet at a grandfather. Such kinship consists of ascendants, descendants, and collateral relatives. Whoever you call father or mother is an ascendant; whoever calls you father or mother is a descendant; and whoever calls your fathers father or mother is a collateral relative. Thus, descendants are a person’s own descendants; collateral relatives are the descendants of his fathers and mothers; and ascendants are those from whom he descends.
His statement, “and marriage,” refers to the union between a man and a woman through a valid contract. There is no mutual inheritance in an invalid marriage contract, nor in a defective marriage contract. The marriage must be valid for inheritance to take place between both spouses: the husband inherits from the wife, and the wife inherits from her husband. Mutual inheritance between spouses is established from the moment a man contracts marriage with a woman. Even if he dies in the very session of the contract before being alone with her, she inherits from him; and even if she herself were to die in the course of the