then his agnates, the nearest male relative followed by the next nearest.

The ruling for the grandfather vis-à-vis the brothers in questions of walāʾ is identical to his ruling with them in matters of blood inheritance.¹

Walāʾ may not be sold, donated, placed in waqf, bequeathed, or itself inherited; rather, the person who inherits by means of walāʾ is simply the emancipator’s closest agnates on the day the freedman dies. Even so, it can move from one line to another: if a male slave marries his female emancipator, the walāʾ of any child she bears belongs to the one who freed her; but if the father is himself set free, the walāʾ transfers to his own emancipators.