Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah

Zakariya bin Abi Zaida says: I acquired these laws of inheritance from Firas, and he says that they were written for him by Sha’bi:

1- Hazrat Zaid bin Thabit and Ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with them) ruled that full brothers share in the inheritance with maternal brothers in the wealth of male and female offspring, and Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) ruled that the wealth is for the maternal brothers, not for the full brothers.

2- And Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and Zaid (may Allah be pleased with him) ruled that a grandmother does not inherit in the presence of her son, and Hazrat Abdullah made her an heir to one-sixth of the wealth in the presence of her son.

3- A woman left her mother and brothers in a state of disbelief and slavery. Regarding this, Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and Zaid (may Allah be pleased with him) ruled that one-third of the wealth is for her mother and two-thirds for the ‘asaba (male agnates). Both of them did not make a disbeliever or a slave an heir from a free Muslim, nor did they deprive them. Hazrat Ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him), through them, would deprive but not make them heirs. He ruled one-sixth for the mother and the remainder for the ‘asaba.

4- A woman left her husband and maternal brothers, and she had a son who was a slave. Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and Zaid (may Allah be pleased with him) ruled half for the husband, one-third for the brothers, and the remainder for the ‘asaba. Hazrat Abdullah ruled one-fourth for the husband and the remainder for the ‘asaba.

5- A woman left her mother and brothers in a state of disbelief and slavery. Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and Zaid (may Allah be pleased with him) ruled one-third for her mother and the remainder for the ‘asaba. Hazrat Abdullah ruled one-sixth for her mother and the remainder for the ‘asaba.

6- A woman left her husband and maternal brothers, and she had no ‘asaba. Hazrat Zaid ruled half for the husband and one-third for the brothers. Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and Abdullah ruled that the remainder be returned to the maternal brothers, because in the remaining wealth from the obligatory shares, nothing is returned to the husband, but it is returned to the closest relatives who are known.

7- A woman left her mother. All of them ruled one-third of the wealth for the mother, and Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and Ibn Mas’ud ruled that the remainder be returned to the mother.

8- A man left his full sister and mother. All of them ruled half for the full sister and one-third for the mother. Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) and Abdullah ruled that the remainder, which is one part, be returned to both of them according to their shares. Thus, the sister will have three-fifths (3/5) and the mother two-fifths (2/5).

9- A man left his paternal sister, grandmother, and wife. All of them ruled half for the sister, one-fourth for the wife, and one part for the grandmother. Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) returned the remainder to the sister and grandmother according to their shares. Hazrat Abdullah returned the wealth to the sister, as he did not return wealth to the grandmother unless there was no other heir.

10- A woman left her mother and maternal sister. All ruled one-third for the mother and one-sixth for the sister. Hazrat Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) ruled that the remainder be returned to both according to their shares. Thus, the mother will have two-thirds and the sister one-third. Hazrat Abdullah ruled that the remainder be returned to the mother, as he did not return wealth to the maternal sister in the presence of the mother. Thus, the mother will have five-sixths and the sister one-sixth.

11- A woman left her full sister and paternal sister. All ruled half for the full sister, one-sixth for the paternal sister, and the remainder to be returned to both according to their shares. Thus, the full sister will have three-fourths and the paternal sister one-fourth. Hazrat Abdullah returned the remainder to the full sister, so she will have five-sixths and the paternal sister one-sixth, and he did not return wealth to the paternal sister in the presence of the full sister.

12- A woman left her full sister and mother. All ruled one-sixth for the mother and one-third for the brothers, and the remainder to be returned to them according to their shares.