two months and five days or less, then no istibra' is required of her; because if the master died first, he died while she was his wife, and if he died last, he died while she was in her waiting period, and no istibra' is required of her in either of these two states. She must observe the waiting period after the death of the latter of the two as the waiting period of a free woman; for the reason we have mentioned. If the period between their deaths is more than that, she must, after the death of the latter of the two, observe the longer of the two periods, from four months and ten days, and an istibra' by one menstrual cycle; because it is possible that the master died first, so she would have the waiting period of a free woman from the death, and it is possible that he died last, after the completion of her waiting period from the husband, and her return to his bed/consort [right], so the istibra' by one menstrual cycle became incumbent upon her; thus it became mandatory to combine both so that the obligation is discharged with certainty. Ibn 'Abd al-Barr said: All scholars who hold the opinion that the waiting period of an umm al-walad from her master is one menstrual cycle, and from her husband is two months and five nights, agree on this. If the interval between their deaths is unknown, then the ruling regarding it is the same as if we knew that the interval between them was two months and five nights, as a precaution to discharge the obligation with certainty, just as we have taken to precaution in the obligation by combining the waiting period of a free woman and a menstrual cycle when we know that the interval between them is two months and five nights. The statement of the companions of al-Shafi'i in this section is like our statement, and likewise the statement of Abu Hanifah and his companions, except that they replaced the single menstrual cycle with three menstrual cycles, based on their principle regarding the istibra' of an umm al-walad. Ibn al-Mundhir said: Her ruling is the ruling of slave women, and she must observe two months and five days, and I do not transfer her to the ruling of free women except with certain knowledge that the husband died after the master. It is said: This is also the opinion of Abu Bakr 'Abd al-'Aziz. And what we have mentioned is more cautious. As for inheritance, she does not