among the scholars on this point. They differed, however, over whether maternal relatives other than the mother or maternal grandmother have a greater right than the father, holding two views. Ibn Wahb reported from Mālik that the father has a greater right than the maternal aunt, whereas the well-known position in the school is that the mother’s relatives have a greater right than the father.

According to this latter view, if there is no mother, or if she is married to an unrelated man, custody passes to her mother, the child’s grandmother. If she is unavailable, it passes to the mother’s maternal grandmother or paternal grandmother. If both are present, her maternal grandmother takes precedence over her paternal grandmother. If neither is present, custody passes to the mothers of the mother’s maternal grandmother, paternal grandmother, maternal grandfather, or paternal grandfather. If all four are present, precedence goes to the mother of her maternal grandmother, followed equally by the mother of her maternal grandfather and the mother of her paternal grandmother, and then by the mother of her paternal grandfather. Their mothers follow this same order, however far up the line of ascent.

If none of these women is present, custody passes to the mother’s sister, the child’s maternal aunt. If the mother has a full sister, a paternal half-sister, and a maternal half-sister, the full sister takes precedence, followed by the maternal half-sister and then the paternal half-sister, because kinship through the mother is closer. If none of these is present, custody passes to the maternal grandmother’s sister, who is the maternal aunt of both the mother and the child’s maternal aunt. Here too, if the grandmother has a full sister, a maternal half-sister, and a paternal half-sister, the full sister takes precedence, followed by the maternal half-sister and then the paternal half-sister, because kinship through the mother is closer than kinship through the father, as we have explained. If none of these is present, custody passes to the maternal grandfather’s sister, who is the paternal aunt of both the mother and the child’s maternal aunt. Here too, if the maternal grandfather has a full sister, a maternal half-sister, and a paternal half-sister, the full sister takes precedence, followed by the maternal half-sister and then the paternal half-sister. This same order applies as maternal kinship becomes more remote and extends further up the line of ascent.

Section

If there are no maternal relatives, one view is that the father has a greater right than all his female relatives, because their claim derives solely through him, so he has a greater right than they do. Another view is that they have a greater right than he does: although their claim derives through him, he does not personally provide custody but delegates it to another woman, so his female relatives have a greater right. ‘Abd al-Wahhāb related these two views. In al-Mudawwana, some of his female relatives are given precedence over him, while he is given precedence over others: the grandmothers on his side are given precedence over him, whereas he is given precedence over all his other female relatives.