- If the descendants are females only, then:
– When there is a single daughter—whether she is a direct daughter or a son’s daughter—her fixed share is one-half of the estate.
– When there are two or more daughters, their fixed share is two-thirds, to be divided equally among them.
The wisdom behind the wording “more than two” (al-Nisa’ 11) is to make it clear that this fixed share—two-thirds—does not increase when the number of daughters exceeds two, just as the allotment changed from one-half to two-thirds when they became more than one.
Allah has explicitly stated that two sisters are entitled to two-thirds; two daughters, therefore, have an even stronger claim.
If the two heirs are direct daughters, nothing remains for granddaughters through a son, and whatever is left after the daughters take their prescribed share goes to the ʿaṣabah (male agnatic heirs). If there is only one direct daughter, she takes one-half, while the remainder needed to complete the two-thirds—namely one-sixth—goes to the son’s daughter or daughters.
Thus the verse has exhaustively covered the inheritance of offspring. From it we learn that the term walad (child) includes both male and female direct descendants as well as descendants through sons, however remote, whereas descendants through daughters are not included under the unqualified term “children” in the rules of inheritance.
Allah then mentioned the inheritance of the parents—the mother and the father—and He assigned the mother two different fixed shares:
– One-sixth whenever the deceased leaves any offspring whatsoever, whether one or many, direct children or grandchildren through a son;
– One-sixth as well when the deceased is survived by two or more brothers and/or sisters.
She receives one-third when neither of the two foregoing conditions is present.
As for the so-called “one-third of what remains” when the heirs are a husband or wife together with both parents, some scholars have inferred it from His words, “and his two parents inherit him” (al-Nisa’ 11). When one of the spouses is present, however, the case is no longer covered by that wording, and the mother therefore does not receive a full one-third.