the unbelievers. In addition, the very factor that would establish inheritance is here opposed by a factor that blocks it, namely the difference of religion. Because divergent religions entail total separation in every respect, the impediment prevails and nullifies the cause; hence the cause cannot operate as long as the impediment remains.

Those who regard all forms of unbelief as a single religion contend that a difference of domicile bars certain unbelievers from inheriting from others, on the grounds that they share no bond of mutual alliance or support. Yet that same reasoning applies, with even greater force, when their religions themselves differ. Therefore, according to this view—which seems to us the stronger—a Christian, for instance, does not inherit from a Jewish relative, nor from a Magian or an idolater; nor does an idolater inherit from his Jewish kin. Rather, Christians inherit only from one another, Jews from one another, Magians from one another, and the same holds for every other community of unbelief. Allah knows best.