He—may Allah have mercy on him—was also asked:

A person established an endowment for Zayd, then for Zayd’s eight children. One of the eight designated children died during Zayd’s lifetime, leaving a child. Zayd then died. Does Zayd’s grandchild receive the share to which his father would have been entitled had he been alive, or does the entire endowment belong exclusively to Zayd’s children?

He replied:

Yes, the grandchild is entitled to what his father would have been entitled to. That share does not pass to those in the same rank as the deceased so long as any of his children or grandchildren remains alive.

This is because, when the founder’s statement, “For Zayd, then for his children, then his children’s children,” is left unqualified, the jurists of Imam Ahmad’s school and others hold two views concerning it.

The first is that it provides for one group as a whole to succeed another, as in the well-known interpretation of the statement, “For Zayd and ʿAmr, then for the poor.”

The second is that it provides for individuals to succeed individuals, as in the words of Allah Most High:

“And you shall have half of what your wives leave.”

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

“Forbidden to you are your mothers.”

That is, each man is forbidden to marry his own mother; for