otherwise, it belongs to the collective body of the Muslims.

If he leaves a daughter, his mother, and a maternal half-brother, the mother receives one-sixth and the daughter one-half, while the maternal brother takes nothing, for a brother through the mother does not inherit alongside any of the deceased’s direct descendants, whether the two children were twins or not.

If he leaves only his mother and a maternal brother, the mother is entitled to one-third, the brother to one-sixth, and whatever remains goes, as noted earlier, to his mother’s patrons or to the public treasury.

If he leaves several maternal brothers or sisters together with his mother, the mother is given one-sixth, while the brothers or sisters—whether two, three, or more—share one-third; any surplus passes to his mother’s patrons or to the treasury.

A child born of fornication is inherited by his mother and by his maternal siblings in exactly the same manner.

Likewise, no one inherits merely on the basis of the birth records of non-Arab peoples (aʿājim): neither their mutual acknowledgements, nor the testimony they give for or against one another, nor the marriage prohibitions they observe establish lineage, for their true parentage is often concealed—except for the inhabitants of a fortress who have embraced Islam voluntarily without coercion. Such people may inherit from one another by virtue of mutual acknowledgement, and the testimony of their upright members is accepted.

This is the distilled position of Mālik. It is also reported from him that if their birth in the land of unbelief is confirmed and they were never owned as slaves, they may inherit on the strength of that testimony, whether they are few or many.

Ibn al-Qāsim transmits from Mālik that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb’s statement—“No one inherits by virtue of the births of the non-Arabs”—applies only when the claim is unsupported; but if their birth is established by reliable Muslim witnesses, they do inherit.

ʿAbd al-Malik said: “My father, Mālik, al-Mughīra, and Ibn Dīnār all followed the opinion of Ibn Hurmuz; later, shortly before his death, Mālik retracted and adopted the view of Ibn Shihāb, namely, that inheritance based on the births of non-Arabs is valid once it is confirmed by trustworthy Muslims.”

Anyone born in the abode of Islam inherits on the basis of that birth, provided he is free. As for a pregnant woman who is taken captive and then gives birth