his maternal grandmother was a slave or an unbeliever, had disavowed his daughter—the maternal grandmother—through sworn imprecation, or his daughter had been born of fornication, patronage belongs to the patrons of his maternal great-grandmother, and thereafter to whoever is entitled to it through them. This is the continuing order of patronage through the mother’s patrons and those of her forebears, both male and female.

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Whenever the father is emancipated, or embraces Islam if he was an unbeliever, patronage reverts to him. He transfers it to his patrons if he is himself under patronage, or to his agnatic heirs and the Muslim community if no one has patronage over him. Likewise, if a man who disavowed his son through sworn imprecation subsequently acknowledges him as his son, patronage reverts to him. He transfers it from the mother’s patrons to his own patrons if he is under patronage, or to his agnatic heirs and the Muslim community if no one has patronage over him. And Allah grants success.

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The underlying principle is that every child born to a free man and a free woman belongs, through patronage, to his father’s patrons if his father is under patronage, or to the Muslim community if his father was free and had never been emancipated. The child’s patronage never passes to his mother’s patrons unless she was emancipated while pregnant with him. In that case, patronage over her child belongs to her emancipator and whoever is entitled to it through him, because the child was subject to slavery in his mother’s womb.

Likewise, if she enters into a contract of emancipation while pregnant with him, is designated for emancipation upon her master’s death, or is granted emancipation at a specified future date, patronage over the children in her womb belongs to their mother’s master. This applies whether she gives birth during the contract or after completing its payments; whether the woman designated for emancipation upon her master’s death gives birth during his lifetime or after his death; and whether the woman granted emancipation at a specified future date gives birth before or after that date. And Allah grants success.

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Patronage passes from a man or woman to their respective sons and male agnatic relatives, to the exclusion of women. A woman may therefore inherit through patronage only from someone she has emancipated, someone emancipated by a person she emancipated, someone emancipated by a person emancipated by someone she emancipated, or the child of a male whom she emancipated, provided that child was free and had never been emancipated, or the child of someone whom