As for the claims made by some authors writing on the Prophet’s biography that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, established brotherhood between ‘Alī and Abū Bakr, and similar accounts, these are false by agreement of those versed in his hadith. He did not establish brotherhood between one Emigrant and another, or between one Helper and another; rather, he established it between the Emigrants and the Helpers. Through this brotherhood and alliance, they inherited from one another to the exclusion of their relatives, until Allah Most High revealed:

“But blood relatives have a stronger claim upon one another in the Book of Allah.”

Inheritance thus came to be based on kinship rather than this brotherhood and alliance. The scholars differed over whether such an alliance and brotherhood confer inheritance rights when there are no heirs through kinship or ties of manumission. There are two views:

The first is that they do confer inheritance rights. This is the position of Abū Hanīfah and of Ahmad according to one of the two reports from him, based on the words of Allah Most High:

“And those with whom you have made a pledge—give them their share.”

The second is that they confer no inheritance rights under any circumstances. This is the position of Mālik, al-Shāfi‘ī, and Ahmad according to the report well known among his followers. Those holding this view say that this verse has been abrogated.

People likewise differed over whether Islam sanctions two people establishing brotherhood and an alliance, as the Emigrants and the Helpers did. One view is that this has been abrogated, on account of what Muslim narrated in his Sahīh from Jābir: that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“There is no alliance in Islam, and whatever alliance existed in the pre-Islamic period, Islam has only strengthened it.”

Another reason is that Allah has already made the believers brothers by the explicit wording of the Quran, and the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “A Muslim is the brother of