his statement: "And if he prefers some of his children over others" encompasses every parent. Then he stated in the same context: "He is ordered to retract it," thus the mother is included in that. This is the school of al-Shafi'i, because she is included in his saying: "Except the parent regarding what he gives to his child." Furthermore, since she was included in the Prophet's statement: "Treat your children equally," she should be enabled to perform that equality, and retraction of the gift is a method to achieve equality. It may even be the only way to achieve it if it is not possible to give the other child the equivalent of what was given to the first. Additionally, since she is included in the meaning of the hadith of Bashir [ibn Sa'd] (31), she should be included in everything that it implies, due to his saying: "Return it," and his saying: "Retract it." Moreover, since she is equal to the father in the prohibition of favoring some of her children, she should be equal to him in the ability to retract what she has favored them with, in order to cleanse herself of the sin and remove the prohibited preference, just like the father. The explicit ruling narrated from Ahmad is that she does not have the right to retract. Al-Athram said: "I said to Abu 'Abd Allah: 'Does a woman have the right to retract what she gives to her child, like a man?' He replied: 'In my view, she is not like the man in this, because the father may take from his child's wealth, but the mother may not.'" He mentioned the hadith of 'A'isha: "The most wholesome [of what] a man eats is from his own earnings, and his child is from his own earnings" (33), meaning it is as if the child is part of the man. Our companions said: "The hadith is an argument for us, for it specifies the 'parent' (al-walid), and in its absolute sense, it only encompasses the father to the exclusion of the mother. The difference between them is that the father has guardianship (wilayah) over his child and inherits the entirety of the wealth, whereas the mother is otherwise." Malik said: "The mother may retract a gift to her child as long as the father is alive. If he is dead, she has no right to retract, because it is a gift to an orphan, and a gift to an orphan is binding, like voluntary charity." It is among his school's tenets that there is no retraction in voluntary charity.