or afterwards.

Anyone to whom a specific item is bequeathed takes that item outright if its value is covered by the one-third; otherwise, he receives only as much of it as the one-third will bear. Should the very item perish, the legatee is not allowed to share with the other beneficiaries in what remains of the testator’s one-third, and the heirs do not charge its value against the one-third; it is treated as though the testator had died without that item ever existing.

Every increment the testator acquires from his property before his death—such as an inheritance that comes to him after he has made his will, or any other kind of profit—is governed by the same rule: if he includes it in the will, only one-third of it may be disposed of. If, however, he made the will while unaware of that increment, and something of which he had no knowledge does accrue to him before he dies, the one-third rule does not apply to it—except that a slave manumitted by tadbir (deferred emancipation) while the master is healthy is included whether the master knew of the increment or not. It has been reported from Malik that a tadbir in this respect is like an ordinary bequest and is included only in what the testator already knew of. There is much disagreement on this point among Malik’s companions and others, but the distilled position of his school is what I have just related to you.

If a man bequeaths one-third of his estate to one person and another one-third to a second person, without retracting either clause, the single one-third is divided equally between them.

If he bequeaths one-third of his estate to one person and the whole of his estate to another, then, should the heirs ratify both bequests, the estate is divided into four shares: the legatee of the whole estate receives three-quarters, and the legatee of the one-third receives one-quarter. If the heirs do not ratify them, the one-third itself is divided into four shares: the legatee of the whole estate takes three-quarters of the one-third, and the legatee of the one-third takes the remaining quarter.

If he bequeaths one-third of his estate to one person, one-half to a second, and one-quarter to a third, and the heirs do not approve this, the one-third is apportioned among them in proportion to their designated shares. If the heirs do approve it, the entire estate is divided among them on the same proportions, so that the estate is split into thirteen parts: the holder of the half receives six, the holder of the third four, and the holder of the quarter three, so that they come out even.