Inheritance of the Grandmothers

There is unanimous agreement that the maternal grandmother—the mother’s mother—receives one-sixth when the mother is absent, and that the paternal grandmother—the father’s mother—likewise receives one-sixth when the father is absent; if both grandmothers are present, they share that one-sixth equally.

Beyond this the jurists differed. Zayd and the scholars of Madinah held that the maternal grandmother is allotted one-sixth as a fixed share. When both grandmothers are present, that one-sixth is divided between them provided they are equally remote from the deceased, or where the paternal grandmother is the more remote. If, however, the maternal grandmother is the closer relative, she alone takes the one-sixth and the paternal grandmother receives nothing. A second report from Zayd states that whichever grandmother is closer receives the one-sixth. This was also the view of ʿAlī—may Allah be pleased with him—and, among the provincial jurists, of Abū Ḥanīfah, al-Thawrī and Abū Thawr. These scholars recognise only these two grandmothers, whose right to inherit is unanimously accepted.

Al-Awzāʿī and Aḥmad allow three grandmothers to inherit: one on the maternal side and two on the paternal side, namely the father’s mother and the father’s father’s mother.

Ibn Masʿūd allows four grandmothers to inherit: the mother’s mother, the father’s mother, the father’s father’s mother, and the mother’s father’s mother. This was likewise the position of al-Ḥasan and Ibn Sīrīn.

Ibn Masʿūd would include both nearer and more remote grandmothers within the one-sixth, so long as the nearer was not excluded by her own daughter or granddaughter. A second report from him states that, when the two grandmothers were from the same side, he would let the nearer exclude the more remote.

It is related from Ibn ʿAbbās that the grandmother stands in the place of the mother whenever the mother is absent. The majority regard this as an isolated opinion, though it does have support by way of analogy.

The principal evidence for Zayd, the people of Madinah, al-Shāfiʿī, and those who follow Zayd’s view is the report transmitted by Mālik:

“A grandmother came to Abū Bakr—may Allah be pleased with him—asking about her inheritance. Abū Bakr said, ‘You have no entitlement in the Book of Allah, and I know of nothing for you in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. Go back until I consult the people.’ Al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah then said, ‘I was present when the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, gave her one-sixth.’ Abū Bakr asked, ‘Is there anyone with you to testify?’ He replied, ‘Muḥammad ibn Maslamah,’ who confirmed al-Mughīrah’s statement. Abū Bakr therefore granted her the one-sixth.

“Another grandmother later came to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb seeking her share. He said, ‘You have no entitlement in the Book of Allah, and the ruling that was given concerned someone other than you. I will not add anything to the prescribed shares, but that one-sixth—if the two of you are together, it is for both of you, and if either of you is alone, it is hers.’”

Mālik also relates that two grandmothers once came to Abū Bakr. He intended to grant the one-sixth to the maternal grandmother, whereupon a man said, ‘You are leaving out the woman whom, were she to die while he was alive, he would inherit from.’ Abū Bakr therefore divided the one-sixth between the two of them.

They said: It is therefore obligatory in this matter not to depart from this Sunnah and the consensus of the Companions.

As for those who allow three grandmothers to inherit, their principal proof is the ḥadīth narrated by Ibn ʿUyaynah from Manṣūr, from Ibrāhīm, in which “the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, allotted inheritance to …”