assigned one-sixth while her son was still alive,” as narrated by al-Tirmidhī. The underlying reason is that a grandmother does not take the share of the person through whom she is connected until that person himself is removed, should he be present.

Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH) remarked: “The maxim advanced by some—‘Whoever inherits through another person is barred by that person’—is unfounded both in its direct sense and in its reverse. It is disproved directly by uterine siblings inheriting alongside their mother, and inversely by the son’s son being barred by his paternal uncle, the brother’s son being barred by his paternal uncle, and similar cases where someone is cut off by a person through whom he is not linked. The true rationale is that he inherits that person’s very portion; therefore, anyone who takes another’s prescribed share is excluded by that other when the latter is closer. The grandmothers stand in the place of the mother and fall away in her presence, even though they are not actually linked through her. Allah knows best.”