that one group as a whole succeeds another. Thus, when Umar dies, that judge may hold that successive entitlement applies only to the first generation, as the apparent wording may suggest. He may instead hold that it applies to all generations, but with each group as a whole succeeding another: each of the two generations shares in the endowment to the exclusion of those below it. Another judge may take a different view, holding that thereafter individuals succeed individuals. If a second judge rules on a matter on which the first did not rule, without contradicting his ruling, this does not constitute an annulment of the first ruling. The second ruling may therefore be annulled only if it contravenes a scriptural text or scholarly consensus. And Allah knows best.

He—may Allah be pleased with him—was asked:

A man established an endowment for his named grandson, then for his children, whether one or more, then for his children’s children, then for his descendants and posterity. Whoever among them died leaving a child, a grandchild, or descendants and posterity, the share he had been receiving would revert to those of the same generational level as him. The first beneficiary died leaving children, one of whom had died during his lifetime leaving children. Then the first beneficiary died, leaving his daughter and his son’s two children. Does the daughter receive everything, or does the share to which the son would have been entitled had he been alive pass to his two children?

He answered:

Rather, the share to which Muhammad—who died during his father’s lifetime—would have been entitled had he lived passes to his two children, not to his sister. For the founder has explained that his words, “for