If they are of equal degree, then the one-sixth is divided among them; but if one is nearer, she alone receives it. The mother of the father and the mother of the grandfather inherit alongside them, just as the paternal uncle does. A grandmother related through two lines receives two-thirds of one-sixth, …

His statement, “If they are of equal degree,” means that they are equal in rank.

His statement, “then [it is divided] among them”: if a deceased person leaves a maternal grandmother, a paternal grandmother, and the mother of his paternal grandfather, then the one-sixth is shared by the maternal grandmother and the paternal grandmother. As for the mother of the paternal grandfather, she does not inherit, because she is more remote than the other two.

But if he leaves the mother of the mother of the mother, the mother of the mother of the father, and the mother of the paternal grandfather, then the one-sixth is divided equally among them, because they are of equal degree.

His statement, “but if one is nearer, she alone receives it”: if he leaves the mother of the mother of the mother, the mother of the father, and the mother of the paternal grandfather, how is the estate divided? The one-sixth belongs to the mother of the father, because she is the nearest of them.

Accordingly, we say: grandmothers receive one-sixth. If they are equal in degree, it is divided among them; and if they differ in degree, it belongs to the nearest among them. This is the second case in which the share does not differ whether the recipients are one or many; the first being the wives.

His statement, “The mother of the father and the mother of the grandfather inherit alongside them,” means that the mother of the father inherits together with the father, although she is connected to the deceased through him; and the mother of the grandfather inherits together with the grandfather, although she is connected through him. If someone were to ask: since the author has given us the principle that the mother of the mother, the mother of the father, and the mother of the father’s father inherit, even if they ascend through mothers, without any condition, why did he specifically mention this issue? We reply: he mentioned it because some scholars differed over it, maintaining that the mother of the father does not inherit alongside the father, and that the mother of the grandfather does not inherit alongside the grandfather. They reasoned that a principle of inheritance law is that whoever is connected through an intermediary is excluded by that intermediary—except maternal siblings, who inherit alongside the mother by consensus, although they are connected through her. But we say that exclusion is based on