to his surviving siblings.” This can only be said of someone who has siblings who will survive him. We know this to be the case with these four, whereas an individual among their descendants might have no surviving siblings. Had that meaning been intended, he would have said: “To his siblings, if he has any,” or: “Any of them who dies leaving siblings,” just as he said regarding children: “Any of them who dies leaving a child.” This is perfectly clear.

Furthermore, even supposing that the share of any beneficiary who died leaving siblings were to pass to those siblings, this would apply only to siblings who shared with him in the share received from his father or mother—not to siblings unconnected with the share he left behind—as established in the relevant sections of the books of jurisprudence according to the well-known schools. Aynāshī received this share only from her mother. Her sister Ruqayya is unrelated to her mother, since she is her sister through their father alone. Thus, her paternal half-sister and her paternal uncle’s daughter stand in the same relation to her mother’s share. This is clear to anyone who reflects upon it. And Allah knows best.

He was asked:

About a founder who established an endowment for his two sons, Umar and Abd Allāh, to be divided equally between them in two halves throughout their lives, for as long as they live and remain alive; then, after them, for all their children, their children’s children, and their descendants and posterity, in perpetuity for as long as they continue to have descendants