in the very manner I have already set out for the father’s uncles. If none of them exists, the estate goes to the nearest member of the clan, generation by generation.

The operative rule among the agnatic heirs is this: whenever you find anyone from the deceased’s own descendants—no matter how remote—you exclude every descendant of his father, even though they may be closer. If someone from the father’s descendants is present, however remote, no one from the grandfather’s descendants inherits, however near; and if you locate a descendant of the grandfather, no descendant of the great-grandfather is given a share. Whenever one of the agnates is linked through a father, he is preferred, whether that relationship is through the father alone or through both mother and father. If they are in the same generational tier but some are full kin (through both parents) while others are related through the father alone, the full relative is given priority. When their degree of kinship is equal, their number the same, and none of them possesses an additional maternal link, they divide the estate equally.

If the deceased leaves no agnatic heir at all, the right devolves upon the patron who emancipated him. Should there be no such patron, the nearest male agnate of that patron inherits, as explained in the chapter on the patron. If there is neither blood relationship nor the bond of manumission (walāʾ), the estate is transferred to the Muslims’ public treasury (Bayt al-Mal), provided it is being administered for its proper purpose. No surplus is returned to any quota-heir, and no uterine relative inherits alongside it. The patron of a patron enjoys the same status as the patron himself, and the patron’s agnates are treated like the agnates of blood: they inherit in precisely the same order. Allah grants success.