the descendants of these four except the daughter of Ismā‘īl ibn Abī Ya‘lā, both women being descendants of Jahmah. As for these two interests held by ‘Aynāshī after her father’s death, do they pass to her sister Ruqayyah? Or to her, or to her paternal cousin Safiyyah?

He replied:

This share which ‘Aynāshī received through her mother passes to the two aforementioned cousins. Her paternal half-sister may not receive it exclusively, because the founder of the endowment stipulated:

“If any of these siblings, the beneficiaries of the endowment, dies leaving no child, grandchild, descendants, or posterity, his share shall pass as an endowment to his siblings, then to their descendants and posterity, according to the condition and order of succession stated above.”

This wording covers both those who leave no descendants from the outset and those whose descendants subsequently die out. Thus, whenever the line of any of these siblings dies out, his share passes to his siblings, then to their children. Had the founder not intended this, he would have left unstated the ruling concerning someone who initially left descendants whose line later died out, without specifying who should receive his share. Such an interpretation is inadmissible, because he provided for the endowment to pass to captives and the poor only when neither he nor the beneficiaries had any descendants or posterity remaining. Thus, whenever they leave descendants—even if only one of them does—nothing passes to captives or the poor. This requires the share of any beneficiary whose line has died out to pass to the surviving siblings, which is the conclusion sought.

Furthermore, he divided the circumstances of a deceased beneficiary among the four into two cases: either he had a child, or descendants and posterity, or he did not. If he did,