permit marriage to more than four [women], nor the combining of two sisters. Thus, it is not permissible for them to be gathered in his inheritance by virtue of the marriage bond. Based on this, if he divorced four [wives] during his illness, and their waiting period expired, and he married four others, then died from his illness, then according to the first [opinion], the newly married wives inherit from him, while the divorced ones do not. According to the second [opinion], there are two views: one of them is that the entire inheritance belongs to the divorced women; the other is that it is shared between the eight. Malik said: The inheritance belongs to the divorced women, and the newly married ones receive nothing, because their marriage is not valid in his view. If he recovered from his illness, then married four [women] while in good health, and subsequently died, the inheritance belongs to them according to the opinion of the majority, and the divorced women receive nothing, except according to the opinion of Malik and those who agreed with him. Similarly, if the divorced women remarried, they do not inherit anything, except in his opinion and the opinion of those who agreed with him. If he divorced four [wives] after consummating the marriage with them three times during his illness and said: 'They have informed me that their waiting period has expired,' and they denied his claim, he is permitted to marry four others if this occurred within a duration in which it is possible for the waiting period to have expired. His statement against them regarding the deprivation of inheritance is not accepted. This is the opinion of Abu Hanifah, Abu Yusuf, and al-Lu'lu'i, if it was after four months. Zufar said: It is not permissible for him to marry either. The first is more correct, because this is a matter between him and Allah, the Almighty, in which they have no right, so his statement regarding it is accepted. Based on this, if he married four [women] in a single contract, then died, the divorced women inherit from him rather than the newly married ones, unless they [the divorced women] die before him, in which case the inheritance belongs to the newly married ones. If they [the divorced women] acknowledge the expiration of their waiting period, and we say: The inheritance is for them after the expiration of the waiting period, then the inheritance is for the newly married women as well. If three of them die, the inheritance is for the remainder. If one of them dies, and one or two of the newly married women die, or two of the divorced women die and one of the newly married ones dies, then the inheritance is for the remaining divorced women. If one of the divorced women dies and three of the newly married ones die, or two of the divorced ones die and two of the newly married ones die, or three of the divorced ones die and one of the newly married ones dies, then the inheritance is between the remainder of the divorced and newly married women together, because if he had initiated a new contract with the remainder of all of them, it would be permissible and thus valid. If he married the newly married women in four contracts, and one of the divorced women died, the first of the newly married women inherits in her place. If two died, the first and the second inherit. If three died, the first, second, and third of the newly married women inherit, along with whoever remains of the divorced women.