whereas the grandmother, not the mother, is the grandfather’s counterpart. The mother receives one-third alongside the father, but the grandmother receives only one-sixth alongside the grandfather. This is among the considerations that strengthen the grandfather’s claim. Another is that brothers in relation to the nearer grandfather are like paternal uncles in relation to the more remote grandfather.

The Muslims are agreed that the more remote grandfather takes precedence over paternal uncles. Likewise, the nearer grandfather takes precedence over brothers, because the relationship of the brothers to the nearer grandfather is analogous to that of paternal uncles to the more remote grandfather. Moreover, if the brothers shared with the grandfather by virtue of being sons of the father (1), then the brothers’ sons would likewise share with him, just as sons’ sons take the place of their fathers. Since the brothers’ sons do not share with the grandfather, their fathers—the brothers—likewise do not.

The case of sons is the reverse: since the grandfather is allotted a prescribed share alongside sons, he is also allotted one alongside sons’ sons (2).

As for the argument related from Alī and Zayd that brothers share with the grandfather, they likened this to the root of a tree from which a branch grows, with two boughs growing from that branch: one bough is closer to the other than it is to the root. They also likened it to a river from which another river branches, and from the latter two channels branch: one is closer to the other (3) than the channel is to the first river.

The substance of this argument is that the brothers are more closely related to the deceased than the grandfather is.

Yet anyone who reflects upon the principles of the Sharia will know that this argument does not counter the argument of Abū Bakr and the majority of the Companions. If it were sound, a brother’s sons would have a stronger claim than the grandfather, and a paternal uncle would have a stronger claim than the father’s grandfather, for the relationship of paternal brothers to