The Maternal Uncle as the Guardian and Inheritor of the One Who Has No Guardian
What has come concerning inheritance, 11th Lesson | Benefits from Muntaqaa Ibn Al-Jarood
بســـم اللــه الرحــمــن الـرحـــيــم
By our Shaykh, the ‘Allaamah, the Trustworthy Advisor, Abu ‘Abdirrahman Yahya bin ‘Ali Al-Hajoori – may Allaah preserve him –
(The inheritance of close relatives📚)
980 – Muhammad bin Yahya narrated to us, he said Abu Nuaym narrated to us, he said Sufyān narrated to us, on the authority of Abdirahmān bin Al-Hārith bin Ayyāsh bin Abī Rabī’ah, on the authority of Hakeem bin Hakeem bin Abbād bin Hanīf, on the authority of Abī Umāmah bin Sahl bin Hanīf, he said Umar bin Al-Khattāb may Allāh be pleased with him wrote to Abī Ubaidah bin Al-Jarrāh to teach you children Al-‘Awm (swimming) and the combatants archery”, he said: “So they disputed over some Al-Aghrādh (objectives), so a gharib (stray) arrow came and killed a ghulām (boy) in his maternal uncle’s chamber, his origin was unknown”, he said: “So Abū Ubaidah wrote to Umar may Allaah be pleased with them both saying to whom do I give his ‘Aql (blood money)?” So Umar may Allaah be pleased with him wrote, “Verily the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ used to say, “Allāh and His Messenger are the guardians of the one who has no guardian and the khāl (maternal uncle) is the inheritor of the one who has no inheritors.”
The hadith is hasan and Al-Albani authenticated this hadith
↪️ And this hadith is a foundation in the inheritance of close relatives due to the statement of the Prophet ﷺ “The maternal uncle is the inheritor of the one who has no inheritors.”
And in this chapter is what At-Tirmidhi mentioned about this hadith being hasan.
And the following hadith of Miqdām Al-Kindi aids it
981 – Muhammad bin Yahya narrated to us, he said Al-Haitham bin Jameel and Suleimān bin Harb narrated to us, on the authority of Hammād bin Zaid, on the authority of Badeel bin Maisarah, on the authority of Alī bin Abī Talhah, on the authority of Rāshid bin Sa’d, on the authority of Abī Aāmir Al-Hawzani, on the authority of Miqdām Al-Kindi, he said: “The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said, “I am nearer to every believer than himself, whoever leaves a debt or a helpless family..” and Al-Haitham said: “or dependants, “then i am responsible, whoever leaves wealth then it is for his inheritors, and I am the guardian for the one who has no guardian, I inherit his property and relieve him of his liabilities, and the maternal uncle is the guardian for the one who has no guardian, he inherits his property and relieves him of his liabilities.”
The chain of narration of the hadith is authentic
Explanation of the hadith
↪️ Teach you children Al-‘Awm and your combatants archery,
Al-‘Awm: swimming
And this is recommended, to teach them swimming and archery.
Al-Aghrādh: is the plural of ghardh and it is the goals/targets
his statement so a gharib arrow came: It is said it’s shooter was unknown or the shooter was known but he shot it unintentionally.
↪️ Al-‘Aql: blood money Aqila, Ya’qalu, Aqlan, and Al-‘Aql in the speech of the Arabs is the blood money because the blood money in Jāhiliyyah was camels, so it was called Aqlan because it used to be tied in the courtyard of the house of the killed.
and the Khāl (maternal uncle) is the guardian to the one who has no guardian:meaning there is no existing inheritor by obligatory or default share so the maternal uncle is called the close relative.
Benefit: Around the naming of Al-Ghulām
↪️ Ibn Ul-Qayyim may Allāh have mercy on him said about the different phases in a person’s life that Allāh ﷻ said:
(اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُم مِّن ضَعْفٍ ثُمَّ جَعَلَ مِن بَعْدِ ضَعْفٍ قُوَّةً ثُمَّ جَعَلَ مِن بَعْدِ قُوَّةٍ ضَعْفًا وَشَيْبَةً)
“Allāh is He Who created you in (a state of) weakness, then gave you strength after weakness, then after strength gave (you) weakness and grey hair.”
So his period of strength is between two periods of weakness and his period of living is between two periods of death, so he is in the beginning is a semen, then a blood clot, then a morsel, then an embryo so long as he is in the stomach, so when he exits he is a walīd until he reached seven days, then he is a sadīgh, then for as long as he suckles he is a radhē’, so when he begins weaning he is a fateem, so when he begins to walk and climb he is a dārij, and if his height reaches five handspans he is called a khumāsī, and if his teeth drop then he is a mathghūr and has began to teethe, so if they grow after sprouting he is a muthaghar on the scale of mudakkar with the taa’ or the thaa’, and if he reaches seven he is a mumayyiz, and if he reaches ten he is a mutara’ra and nāshi’, so if he reaches near to puberty he is a yāfi’ and murāhiq and munāhiz, and if he reaches puberty he is a baaligh, if he gathers strength he is a hazūr and his name during that whole period is ghulām as long as his mustache doesn’t become greenish, so if it becomes greenish and his sideburns begin to grow he is a bāqil and his face has begun to broaden, then he is between that (period) and the completing of his beard a fatā and a shārikh, in the prime of his youth,
Al-Jawhari said al-fatā is ash-shāb and al-fatāt is ash-shābah, and al-fatā is also used for a bondsman even if he is an old man and from it is the hadith (Let not one of you say to his bondsman my slave boy or slave girl but let him say my lad or my lady) and it is said al-fatā to a sakhi al-karīm, if his beard has gathered he is a shāb until forty, then he goes into kahūlah until sixty, then he goes into shaykhūkhah, so if his beard begins to become white it is said he shāb, and if it increases it is said he is a shaybah, if it increases more it is said shamat, and if it covered majority of his head it is called aghtam, and if his whole head and beard become white he is a mutaqa’wis, and if he starts to become weak it is said harim, if it becomes apparent his weakness and destitute it is said ardhal al-umur, so death is more closer to him than his hand to his mouth.
Tuhfatul-Wadūd bi-Ahkām il-Mawlūd.
Benefit: The close relatives are given precedence other the Muslim treasury and this is the statement of the majority of the companions*
↪️ The close relatives are every relative that does not receive inheritance through obligatory or default share and their number is ten.
- 1 – grandchild (from daughter)
- 2 – nephew/niece (from sister)
- 3 – neice (from brother)
- 4 – paternal female cousin
- 5 – maternal uncle
- 6 – maternal aunty
- 7 – maternal grandfather
- 8 – mothers paternal uncle
- 9 – paternal aunty
- 10 – nephew/niece of maternal brother
↪️ then those who are next in closeness to these
Benefit: A killer does not inherit from the intentionally killed, neither from his blood money or his inheritance, as for the one killed by accident then he inherits from the wealth of the killed but not from his blood money, because the blood money is upon him and he is the perpetrator so it does not return to him.
Benefit: In the issue of the killer not inheriting from the one he killed by mistake, neither from his blood money or his inheritance, this is the opinion of the majority and our Shaykh (Yahya) deemed to be the correct opinion that if it is affirmed that he killed him by mistake then he inherits from him because (if not) two calamities would have befell him, the calamity of losing a close relative and being deprived from inheriting from him, and this is in conflict with the foundations of the shariah, so what is correct is what Mālik said that he inherits from his wealth but not from his blood money. As for what resembles intentional where he is the direct cause then this points to that he had something in his heart against him (the killed), so he doesn’t inherit from him except if the doubt is removed from him.
Benefit: The book of Al-‘Iqnaa’ by Ibn Al-Qattaan is an encyclopedia of consensus that he transmits from Ibn Al-Mundhir and others, so it is a good book. And the book Mawsū’atul-Ijmaa’ is a good book, they relayed consensus and strengthened them with the mentioning of evidence even if there is (in it) a slight over expansion.
And all praise is to Allāh the Lord of all the worlds
Transcribed to Arabic and summarised by:
By Hamood Ath-Thawaabi
may Allah reward him with good
on the 7th, Rabee Al-Awwal, 1440H
Translated by:
Abu ‘Abdillah ‘Omar bin Yahya Al-‘Akawi