176

They will ask you for a pronouncement, concerning indirect heirs. Say: 'Allahu ta’ālā pronounces to you concerning indirect heirs. If a man (in imru'un is in the nominative because of the verb [halaka, 'perishes'] that explains it) perishes, dies, having no children, and no parent, and this is the one referred to as an indirect heir (kalāla), but he has a sister, from both parents or from one, hers is half of what he leaves, and he, a brother, similarly, is her heir, in all that she leaves, if she has no children: but if she has a son, then he [the maternal uncle] receives nothing, and if a daughter, then whatever is left after her share; if the brother and sister be from the same mother, then the one receives a sixth, as was stipulated at the beginning of the sūra [Q. 4:11]. If there be two sisters, or more - for this was revealed regarding Jābir [b. 'Abd Allāh], who died and was survived by sisters -, theirs are two-thirds of what he, the brother, leaves; if there be, among the inheritors, siblings, men and women, then the male, among them, shall receive the equivalent of the portion of two females. Allahu ta’ālā makes clear to you, the stipulations of your religion, lest you go astray; and Allahu ta’ālā has knowledge of all things', including [matters of] inheritance: it is reported by the two Shaykhs [Bukhārī and Muslim] that al-Barā' [b. 'āzib] said that this was the last of the 'duty' verses to be revealed.