This is the opinion of Iyas ibn Abd al-Muzani, Ata', al-Hasan, Humayd al-A'raj, Abdullah ibn Utbah, Ibn Abi Layla, al-Hasan ibn Salih, Sharik, Yahya ibn Adam, and Ishaq. It is also narrated from Ibn Mas'ud. Al-Sha'bi said: The plague occurred in the Levant during the year of Amwas, and members of households were dying completely, so they wrote to Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, about this. Umar wrote: 'Cause them to inherit from one another.' It is narrated from Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, Zayd, Ibn Abbas, Mu'adh, and al-Hasan ibn Ali, may Allah be pleased with them, that they did not cause them to inherit from one another, and they assigned what belonged to each one to the living from among their heirs. This is the opinion of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, Abu al-Zinad, al-Zuhri, al-Awza'i, Malik, al-Shafi'i, may Allah be pleased with them, and Abu Hanifah and his companions. This is also narrated from Umar, al-Hasan al-Basri, Rashid ibn Sa'd, Hakim ibn Umayr, and Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf. It is also narrated from Ahmad what points to this, for he said regarding a woman and her son who both died: Her husband said, 'She died and we inherited from her, then my son died and I inherited from him.' Her brother said, 'Her son died and she inherited from him, then she died and we inherited from her.' Each of them took an oath to invalidate the claim of the other. The son's inheritance went to his father, and the woman's inheritance went to her brother and her husband in equal halves. Thus, he assigned the inheritance of each of them to the living from among their heirs. It is possible that this should be considered a narration from Ahmad in all the issues of the chapter, and it is possible that this is his opinion in cases where the heir of each deceased person claims that their testator was the last to die, and each of them inherits from the other if their heirs agree on the ignorance of the manner of their deaths. This is because with mutual litigation, the oath is directed toward the defendant, so he swears to invalidate the claim of his opponent, and the inheritance remains available to him, as is the case in all other rights, unlike when they agree on the ignorance of the event, for then no oath is directed, because an oath is not prescribed in a situation where they agree on ignorance regarding it.
(1) In M: "Abdullah". He is Iyas ibn Abd al-Muzani, a Companion of the Prophet, and is counted among the Hijazi scholars. Tahdhib al-Tahdhib 1/389-390. (2) Narrated by al-Bayhaqi in al-Sunan al-Kubra 6/222. This happened in the year eighteen in the region of Jordan. Amwas is a village six miles from Ramla on the road to Jerusalem. See: al-Ibar 1/21. (3) Rashid ibn Sa'd al-Maqra'i (with a damma on the mim and a sukun on the qaf) was trustworthy and acceptable. He died in the year 108. Tahdhib al-Tahdhib 3/225-226. (4) Hakim ibn Umayr ibn al-Ahwas al-Ansi was a Tabi'i and was acceptable. Tahdhib al-Tahdhib 2/450. (5) In M, there is the addition: "so he swears".
