‘Abd al-Wāḥid al-Mulayḥī informed us: Aḥmad ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Nu‘aymī informed us; Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf informed us; Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl informed us; Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm informed us; Wuhayb informed us; Ibn Ṭāwūs informed us from his father, from Ibn ‘Abbās, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Give the prescribed shares to those entitled to them; whatever remains belongs to the nearest male agnatic heir.” (1)

This hadith indicates that some heirs exclude others. Exclusion is of two types: exclusion by reduction and exclusion by total deprivation.

Exclusion by reduction is that a child or a son’s child reduces the husband’s share from one-half to one-quarter, the wife’s share from one-quarter to one-eighth, and the mother’s share from one-third to one-sixth. Likewise, two or more siblings reduce the mother’s share from one-third to one-sixth.

Exclusion by total deprivation is that the mother excludes the grandmothers. Maternal half-siblings, both brothers and sisters, are excluded by four: the father; the grandfather, however high in the line of ascent; a child; and a son’s child, however remote in the line of descent. Full siblings are excluded by three: the father, the son, and the son’s son, however remote; but they are not excluded by the grandfather according to the position of Zayd ibn Thābit. This was also the view of ‘Umar, ‘Uthmān, ‘Alī, and Ibn Mas‘ūd, may Allah be pleased with them. It was likewise held by Mālik, al-Shāfi‘ī, al-Awzā‘ī, Aḥmad, and Isḥāq, may Allah have mercy on them.

Paternal half-siblings are excluded by these three, as well as by a full brother. A group held that all siblings are excluded by the grandfather just as they are excluded by the father. This was the view of Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq, Ibn ‘Abbās, Mu‘ādh, Abū al-Dardā’, and ‘Ā’ishah, may Allah be pleased with them. It was also held by al-Ḥasan, ‘Aṭā’, Ṭāwūs, and Abū Ḥanīfah, may Allah have mercy on them.

The nearer agnatic heir excludes the more remote agnatic heir. The nearest of them is the son, then the son’s son, however remote; then the father; then the paternal grandfather, however high in the line of ascent. If the grandfather is accompanied by any full or paternal half-brothers or sisters, they share in the inheritance. If there is no grandfather, then comes the full brother, then the paternal half-brother, then the sons of brothers, with the nearer one taking precedence, whether he is descended from full or paternal half-siblings. If they are equal in degree, the one descended from full siblings takes precedence. Then comes the full paternal uncle, then the paternal half-uncle, then their sons in the same order as the sons of brothers; then the father’s paternal uncle, then the grandfather’s paternal uncle, in this same order.

If there is no agnatic heir by blood relationship, and the deceased has a bond of manumission, the inheritance belongs to the emancipator. If the emancipator is not alive, then it belongs to the emancipator’s agnatic heirs.

Four male relatives render their female counterparts residuary heirs: the son, the son’s son, the full brother, and the paternal half-brother. Thus, if one dies leaving a son and a daughter, or a full or paternal half-brother and sister, the estate is divided between them, with the male receiving the share of two females; and no prescribed share is assigned