for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Give the prescribed shares to those who are entitled to them; whatever remains goes to the nearest male agnate.” If nothing is left after the fixed shares are distributed, the agnates receive nothing.

The agnates are arranged under six lines of kinship:

1. the line of descent,
2. the line of ascent,
3. the line of siblings,
4. the line of the brothers’ sons,
5. the line of walā’ (clientage). Walā’, as noted earlier, is an agnatic tie created by a patron’s act of freeing his slave, supported by the Prophet’s ﷺ saying: “Walā’ belongs only to the one who emancipated.”

When two or more agnates are present, four situations can arise:

1. They are equal in line, generation, and strength; in that case they share the estate equally, as with sons, full brothers, or paternal uncles among themselves.
2. They differ in line; the agnate from the stronger line takes precedence, such as a son over a father.
3. They share the same line but differ in generation; the nearer generation is preferred, so a son is preferred to a son’s son because he is closer.
4. They share the same line and generation but differ in strength; the stronger is preferred, as when a full brother and a consanguine brother are present—the full brother is stronger because he is related through both parents, whereas the consanguine brother is related through the father alone.