Chapter on Distant Kindred

His statement, “dhawū,” means possessors.

His statement, “al-arḥām” is the plural of raḥim and means relatives. As mentioned earlier, there are three causes of inheritance: kinship, marriage, and manumission. But the relatives meant here are not the same as those meant there. Here, distant kindred are every relative who is neither a fixed-share heir nor a residuary heir.

Thus, your maternal grandfather is a relative, but not among the fixed-share heirs, because a grandfather is not a fixed-share heir when an intervening female stands between him and the deceased. Nor is he among the residuary heirs, because the governing principle regarding ascendants is that anyone whose link to the deceased is through a female does not inherit. We therefore call him a distant kindred relative. Your maternal uncle—your mother’s brother—is likewise a distant kindred relative, since he is a relative but is neither a fixed-share heir nor a residuary heir. As for your paternal uncle—your father’s brother—he is a residuary heir.

Once a person knows the residuary heirs and the fixed-share heirs, he will know the distant kindred. It is like saying: the letter jīm has a dot beneath it, the letter khāʾ has a dot above it, and the letter ḥāʾ has no dot. You now recognize the letter ḥāʾ because you know what distinguishes its counterparts. So know the fixed-share heirs and the residuary heirs, and you will know the distant kindred.

The scholars differed over whether distant kindred inherit. However, the preponderant and decisive view is that they must inherit, for Allah, Most High, says:

“Those related by blood are nearer to one another in the Book of Allah.” [al-Aḥzāb 33:6]