the estate through two bases—for example, a husband who is also a cousin: his wife dies, leaving no agnatic heir other than him. In this case, we say that he takes the entire estate, both as a fixed share and as an agnatic heir. It should not be said that he has no fixed share merely because he takes the entire estate; rather, it is said that he takes the estate through two bases: as a fixed-share heir and as an agnatic heir.

Likewise, if he is a maternal brother as well as a cousin—for example, a man whose paternal uncle married his mother after his father’s death, and she bore him a son—then this son inherits through two bases if his cousin dies: by way of a fixed share, as a maternal brother, and by way of agnation, as a cousin.

His statement, “and when there is a fixed-share heir, they take what remains”: the evidence for this in the sunnah is the Prophet’s ﷺ saying: “Assign the prescribed shares to those entitled to them; whatever remains goes to the nearest male relative.” (1) This is an explicit and clear text: we begin with the fixed-share heirs and then the agnatic heirs; if nothing remains, the latter are excluded.

His statement, “The nearest among them is a son,” means because he has the most prior basis of inheritance. Thus, had the author, may Allah have mercy on him, said, “The most entitled among them,” it would have been better, since when he says, “The nearest among them,” the reader may understand this as nearness in degree. Moreover, the wording of the hadith is: “Whatever remains goes to the nearest male relative.”

His statement, “then his son, however far removed”: a daughter does not confer agnatic inheritance, so her son has no right of inheritance at all.

His statement, “then the father, then the grandfather,” refers to the paternal line.

His statement, “however high, provided that there is no full brother or consanguine brother”: this condition is based