into division, whether the resulting benefit accrues to him or to his partner—or whether it yields no benefit at all. This is the view of Mālik; yet most of his own students disagreed with him. Mālik argued his case from the outward sense of Allah’s statement: “whether it be little or much—a prescribed share” (Qur’an 4:7).

Ibn al-Qāsim and others opposed him, saying that only property from which each heir can personally benefit should be split; if not, the asset must be sold and the proceeds apportioned among them. In my estimation, the evidence favors Ibn al-Qāsim’s position, for it is related from the Prophet ﷺ that he said: “No prejudicial fragmentation (taʿḍiya) is to be imposed on the heirs except in property that can bear division.” Ibn Wahb mentioned this, saying: Ibn Jurayj told me, on the authority of Ṣadaqa b. Mūsā, from Muḥammad b. Abī Bakr b. ʿAmr b.