If you wish to apply the ruling in this chapter, take one of the two women and imagine that she were a man. If, on that assumption, it would be lawful for him—as a man—to marry that particular relative, then it is permissible to keep both women in marriage at the same time. But if, were one of them a man, such a marriage would be unlawful, then combining the two women is likewise unlawful. This test applies to blood relations alone.

With respect to relationships created through marriage rather than lineage, there is no objection to a man being married simultaneously to a woman and her step-daughter. Yet if someone marries a woman and her (biological) daughter in a single contract, the contract for both of them is annulled, whether this takes place before or after consummation. Should the annulment occur before consummation, he may later marry whichever of the two he prefers. This is the view adopted by Ibn al-Qāsim, whereas ʿAbd al-Malik and others held that the daughter remains lawful for him but the mother does not.

If the contract is annulled after he has consummated the marriage with both of them, neither woman will ever be lawful for him again. If he consummated the marriage with only one of them, the contract is annulled, yet he may subsequently remarry the one with whom he had consummated, while the other remains permanently forbidden to him.

The basic principle unanimously accepted by the scholars of Medina in this matter is that once a man marries a woman, it is never lawful for him to marry her mother—whether or not he has consummated the marriage with the daughter. There is no objection to his marrying the daughter provided he has not consummated with the mother; but if he does consummate with the mother, her daughter becomes permanently forbidden to him, whether or not that daughter grew up in his household.

If a man marries a woman in addition to another whom he is not permitted to combine with her, the first marriage is valid, while the second is invalid and must always be annulled. Should both women die, they do not inherit from one another. The second wife is entitled to no dower at all—not even half—unless he had consummated the marriage with her; if he had, she receives her full dower. As for the first wife, she is always entitled to her full inheritance share and to the full, immediate payment of her dower, whether or not consummation took place, for death makes the dower obligatory, unlike divorce.

Mālik said: If a man marries a mother and her daughter in a single contract and assigns a dower to each of them, the marriage must be annulled. If he then consummates the marriage with both of them, they both become permanently forbidden to him; and if he consummates with either the mother or the daughter