Likewise, He says:

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

This does not mean that all husbands collectively receive half of what all women leave. Rather, each husband receives half of what his own wife leaves, and no more. Likewise, He says:

“Those who believe and whose descendants follow them in faith—We shall join their descendants with them.”

This refers only to each person being followed by his own descendants; it does not mean that every descendant followed every forefather.

This is common in speech, as when one says: “People are in their homes, with their spouses, managing their wealth and providing for their children,” and similar expressions. Three considerations demonstrate that this interpretation has considerable force in the case of endowments.

First: Most founders of endowments transfer each parent’s share to that parent’s child, without postponing the transfer until the entire generation has passed away. This prevalence is evidence that the interpretation is strong—indeed, that it is the more likely one.

Second: An endowment for one’s children is generally intended to function like inherited property that cannot be sold. Its principal purpose is for the descendants to benefit from it without being able to dispose of the underlying property itself. Moreover, endowments and inheritance resemble one another here in that, in both cases, transfer to a grandchild is conditional upon the absence of the child.

Now, if wording of this kind were used without qualification in relation to inheritance, as Allah Most High uses it in His saying:

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