the father inherits nothing from that child, according to Mālik.

With regard to a hermaphrodite whose gender remains uncertain—the uncertainty, in Mālik’s view, being the case in which the person urinates from both anatomical openings—such a person is awarded half the male share and half the female share. A group of later Mālikīs maintained that one should instead examine which organ releases urine first and in greater quantity, the presence of a beard, menstruation, breasts, the so-called “dirham measure,” and other signs that distinguish male from female. If, after considering all these indicators, the ambiguity persists, the person is treated as indeterminate.

If the deceased leaves a son and a hermaphrodite, the hermaphrodite receives five shares out of twelve; it has also been said three shares out of seven. Mālik himself left no explicit statement on the matter, and the later scholars of his school have adopted the procedure just mentioned.

When a forensic genealogist (qāʾif) attributes a boy to two men, the matter is postponed until the boy reaches puberty. At that point he chooses which of the two he will ally himself to, and his lineage to the other is severed. If the boy dies before reaching puberty, both men inherit from him. Should one of the two men die first, his estate is held in suspension until the boy comes of age. If, on reaching puberty, the boy chooses allegiance to the deceased, he inherits from him and his lineage is traced to him; but if he chooses the living man, his lineage is traced to that man and he inherits nothing from the deceased. If the child himself dies after one of the men has died but before making his choice, he is deemed to have inherited from the deceased, and the surviving man then inherits from the child.

If several relatives who could inherit from one another perish together—whether through a building collapse, a fire, drowning, or in battle—and it is impossible to determine who died first, none of them inherits from the others; rather, each is succeeded by his living heirs. If it is established that one of them died before the other, the survivor inherits from him. No claim to inherit—or to prevent another from inheriting—is upheld on the basis of doubt.

Anyone who himself does not inherit does not exclude anyone else from the estate. Thus, if a Muslim dies leaving sons who are unbelievers or slaves and a free Muslim wife, the wife receives one-quarter of the estate and is not reduced to one-eighth. Likewise, a husband’s share is not reduced from one-half to one-quarter. Were he to leave