to spend on anyone other than these. Furthermore, the Shari'a only stipulated maintenance for parents and children; others are not joined with them regarding birth and its rulings, thus it is not valid to apply analogy (qiyas) (13) to them. Our argument is the saying of Allah the Almighty: {And upon the father of the child is their provision and their clothing according to what is recognized}. Then He said: {And upon the heir is the like of that}. Thus, He made the maintenance of nursing incumbent upon the father, then He linked the heir to him, thereby making maintenance upon the heir like that which He made incumbent upon the father. It is narrated that a man asked the Prophet - may Allah bless him and grant him peace - and said (14): To whom should I show the most righteousness? He said: "Your mother, your father, your sister, and your brother." In another phrasing: "And your mawla (client) who is closest to you, as a binding right and an upheld bond of kinship." Related by Abu Dawud (15). This is a textual proof (nass) because (16) the Prophet - may Allah bless him and grant him peace - obligated him to show connection and righteousness, and maintenance is part of connection, so he made it a binding right. What Abu Hanifah argued is actually an argument against him, for the wording is general concerning (17) every relative with blood ties, so it serves as an argument against him [regarding who is included among] (18) the unmarriageable relatives (dhi rahim mahram), and it has been restricted to the heir in inheritance, so it is the same in maintenance. As for the report of the followers of al-Shafi'i, it is a matter concerning a specific case (qadiyyah fi 'ayn); it is possible that the man had no one other than those whom he was ordered to provide for, and that is why he did not mention the father, the grandfathers, or the children of children. As for their statement that "analogy is not valid," we say: We have established it through the textual proof (nass), and moreover, they themselves have joined the children of children to the children, despite the disparity, so what they said is nullified. Once this is established, it is specific to the heir by share (fard) or by agnatic kinship (ta'sib), due to the generality of the verse, and it does not encompass those who are not heirs (dhawi al-arham), as was previously explained. If there are two people, one of whom inherits from the other while the other does not inherit from him—like a man with his paternal aunt or his paternal cousin or his sister's daughter, or a woman with her daughter's daughter and the son (19) of her daughter—then maintenance is upon the heir to the exclusion of the one who is inherited from. Ahmad stated this textually