Do they, then, share her portion, or is the son alone entitled to it, to the exclusion of the son’s daughter?

The aforementioned son then died leaving a son. Is he alone entitled to what his father had been receiving, to the exclusion of the son’s daughter? Does the founder’s aforementioned stipulation require one entire generation to succeed another, or individuals to succeed their respective predecessors?

He replied:

Where the wording is unqualified, there are two well-known views on this question among the jurists of Imam Ahmad’s school and other schools. The stronger view, however, is that it establishes individual succession: a grandchild takes the place his father would have occupied had he been alive and entitled. This applies whether the son survived the grandfather and became entitled; survived but did not become entitled because of an impediment affecting him, because he did not accept the endowment, or for some other reason; or did not survive the grandfather, but died during his lifetime.

On this interpretation, one plural expression is set against another, which requires each individual in one group to correspond to the respective individual in the other. Thus, Allah says:

“You shall have half of what your wives leave.”

That is, each man receives half of what his own wife leaves. Likewise, His words:

“You are forbidden to marry your mothers.”

That is, each man is forbidden to marry his own mother. Other expressions follow the same pattern.

Similarly, the founder’s words, “for their children, then for their children’s children,” mean that each succeeds after his own father’s death. In the present case, moreover, the founder explicitly stipulated that, when someone dies leaving a child, his share passes to his child. This expressly establishes individual succession, leaving no room for disagreement on this point in the present case.

The only uncertainty concerns a child who dies during his father’s lifetime, leaving a child of his own. The father then dies leaving another child and the child of his first child: do these two share, or is the former alone entitled to the portion?