leave them dependent, begging from people" (6). This is because it (7) provides them with sufficiency and maintains kinship ties, as they are the most deserving of people for his voluntary and obligatory alms, and likewise his perpetual charity. Once this is established, according to the apparent meaning of al-Khiraqi’s words and the apparent meaning of Ahmad’s words, it is for the poor and wealthy among them, because the endowment [is not restricted to the poor] (8). Even if he had endowed it upon his children, it would include both the poor and the wealthy; such is the case here.

There is another view that it is restricted to the poor among them, because they are the people of alms rather than the wealthy, and because we have restricted it to them (9) by virtue of their being the most deserving of people for charity, and the most deserving of people for charity are the poor, not the wealthy. There is a difference of opinion regarding which of the endower’s relatives are entitled to the endowment. In one of the two narrations, it reverts to his heirs among them, because they are the ones to whom God Almighty turns his wealth after his death and after he no longer needs it; thus, what is turned to them from his charity, for which no beneficiary was specified, is treated likewise. This is also because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "For you to leave your heirs wealthy is better than that you leave them dependent, begging from people." According to this, it is distributed among them according to their inheritance shares and is considered an endowment upon them. Ahmad stated this, and al-Qadi mentioned it, because an endowment implies perpetuity, and we only diverted it to these people because they are the most entitled of all people to his charity, so it is diverted to them while remaining a charity. It is possible that al-Khiraqi’s words mean it is diverted to them by way of inheritance, and the endowment is invalidated in that case. According to this, it would be like the opinion of Abu Yusuf. The second narration is that it is an endowment upon the closest agnatic relatives (asaba) of the endower, to the exclusion of the rest of the heirs who are fixed-share heirs (ashab al-furud), and to the exclusion of the distant agnates (10), with the closest then the next closest being prioritized, according to their entitlement to the wala' (clientage) of the freedmen, because they were distinguished by being responsible for his blood money (aqila) and by inheriting from his clients; therefore, they were distinguished by this as well. This does not seem strong to me, for their entitlement to this, to the exclusion of others among the people, cannot occur...