Chapter: The Grandmothers

1014 - Problem: Abu al-Qasim, may Allah have mercy on him, said: (And the grandmother, if there is no mother, has the sixth).

Abu Bakr ibn al-Mundhir said: The scholars are in consensus that the grandmother receives the sixth if there is no mother for the deceased. Others have reported a deviant narration from Ibn Abbas that she is in the position of the mother because she is related through her, so she stands in her place, just as the grandfather stands in the place of the father. Our evidence is what Qabisah ibn Dhu'ayb narrated, saying: A grandmother came to Abu Bakr, requesting her inheritance. He said: "You have nothing in the Book of Allah the Almighty, and I do not know of anything for you in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. However, return until I ask the people." Al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah said: "I was present with the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, when he gave her the sixth." He said: "Is there anyone with you?" So Muhammad ibn Maslamah testified for him, and Abu Bakr granted it to her. Then, when it was the time of Umar, another grandmother came. He said: "You have nothing in the Book of Allah, and the judgment that was rendered was for other than you, and I am not going to add anything to the shares. However, it is that sixth; if you are both present, it is for both of you, and whichever of you is alone with it, it is for her." It was narrated by Malik in his Muwatta, Abu Dawud, and al-Tirmidhi, who said: "A Hasan Sahih hadith." As for the grandfather, he does not stand in the place of the father in all his circumstances, as we have mentioned. The scholars are in consensus that the mother blocks grandmothers from all directions. It has been narrated by Ibn Buraydah, from his father, that the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, designated the sixth for the grandmother if there was no mother below her. It was narrated by Abu Dawud. This indicates that she does not inherit anything with her. This is because the grandmother is related through the mother, so she is excluded by her, like the exclusion of the grandfather by the father, and the son of the son by the son. As for the mother of the father, she only inherits the inheritance of a mother because she is a mother, and for that reason, she inherits while her son is alive, whereas if her inheritance were from his direction, she would not inherit while he is present.

1015 - Problem: He said: (And likewise, if they are many, they do not increase beyond the sixth as a fixed share.)

The scholars are in consensus that the inheritance of the grandmothers is the sixth, even if they are many, and that is due to what we have narrated of the report, and that Umar shared it between them. Something similar to that has been reported from Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him. Sa'id narrated that Sufyan and Hushaym said, from Yahya ibn Sa'id, from al-Qasim ibn Muhammad, he said: The two grandmothers came to Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, and he gave the inheritance to the mother of the mother, to the exclusion of the mother of the father. 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Suhayl ibn Harithah, who had witnessed Badr, said to him: "O Caliph of the Messenger of Allah, you have given to the one who, if she died, would not have him inherit from her, and you have prevented the one who, if she died, would have him inherit from her!" So Abu Bakr divided the sixth between them. This is because they are a number in which no male participates, so their many and their single are equal, like the wives. Al-Khiraqi’s statement: "They do not increase beyond the sixth as a fixed share," he means by it to guard against their increase through the Radd (return), for they do receive an increase over the sixth in the Radd, according to what has already been mentioned.

Section: There is no disagreement among the scholars regarding the inheritance of two grandmothers: the mother of the mother and the mother of the father. Likewise, if they ascend and are equal in closeness, such as the mother of the mother of the mother and the mother of the mother of the father, except for what was narrated from Dawud that he does not grant the mother of the mother of the father anything, because he does not inherit from her, so she does not inherit from him, and because she is not mentioned in the report. Our evidence is that the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him...