gave to three grandmothers. It is a necessity that among them there be the mother of the father’s mother, or someone higher than her. What Dawud mentioned is based on analogy, yet he does not subscribe to analogy; furthermore, his position is invalidated by the case of the mother of the mother, for she inherits from him but he does not inherit from her. As for his statement that she is not mentioned in the report, we say: neither is the mother of the mother of the mother. They disagreed regarding the inheritance of what exceeds two; Abu ‘Abd Allah leaned toward granting inheritance to three grandmothers, without exceeding them. This was reported from ‘Ali, Zayd ibn Thabit, and Ibn Mas‘ud, may Allah be pleased with them. A similar view was reported from Masruq, al-Hasan, and Qatada. This is also the position of al-Awza‘i and Ishaq. It was reported from Sa‘d ibn Abi Waqqas that which indicates that no more than two grandmothers are to be granted inheritance. This was also narrated from Abu Bakr ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Harith ibn Hisham, Sulayman ibn Yasar, Talha ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Awf, Rabi‘ah, Ibn Hurmuz, Malik, Ibn Abi Dhi’b, Abu Thawr, and Dawud. Al-Shafi‘i stated this in his earlier (qadim) opinion. It was narrated from al-Zuhri that he said: We know of no more than two grandmothers being granted inheritance in Islam. It was reported that Sa‘d ibn Abi Waqqas performed Witr with one Rak‘ah, and Ibn Mas‘ud criticized him for it. Sa‘d replied: "Do you criticize me while you grant inheritance to three grandmothers?" It was reported from Ibn ‘Abbas that he granted inheritance to grandmothers even if they were many, provided they were in one degree, except for one who is related through a non-inheriting father, such as the mother of the father of the mother. Ibn Suraqa said: "The majority of the Companions held this view, with rare exceptions." This is the position of al-Hasan, Ibn Sirin, al-Thawri, Abu Hanifa, and his companions. This is also the narration of al-Muzani from al-Shafi‘i, may Allah be pleased with him, and it is the apparent meaning of al-Khiraqi’s statement, for he named three aligned grandmothers and then said: "And if they are many, it is the same." They argued that the additional grandmother is a grandmother who is related through an inheritor, so she must inherit, like one of the three. Our evidence is what Sa‘id narrated, from Ibn ‘Uyaynah, from Mansur, from Ibrahim, that the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, granted inheritance to three