يستفتونك قل الله يفتيكم في الكلالة إن امرؤ هلك ليس له ولد وله أخت فلها نصف ما ترك وهو يرثها إن لم يكن لها ولد فإن كانتا اثنتين فلهما الثلثان مما ترك وإن كانوا إخوة رجالا ونساء فللذكر مثل حظ الأنثيين يبين الله لكم أن تضلوا والله بكل شيء عليم
Yastaftūnak, quli'llāhu yuftīkum fi'l-kalālah, ini'mruʾun halaka laysa lahū waladun wa lahū ukhtun fa-lahā niṣfu mā tarak, wa huwa yarithuhā in lam yakun lahā walad, fa-in kānata'thnatayni fa-lahuma'l-thuluthāni mimmā tarak, wa in kānū ikhwatan rijālan wa nisāʾan fa-li'l-dhakari mithlu ḥaẓẓi'l-unthayayn, yubayyinu'llāhu lakum an taḍillū, wa'llāhu bi-kulli shayʾin ʿAlīm
"They ask you for a ruling. Say: God gives you a ruling concerning kalāla. If a man dies leaving no child but having a sister, hers is half of what he leaves; and he inherits from her if she has no child. If there are two sisters, theirs is two-thirds of what he leaves. If they are brothers and sisters, men and women, then to the male the like of the share of two females. God makes it clear to you, lest you go astray. God knows all things."
From this verse arose one of the most technical discussions in classical jurisprudence. That discussion is not entered into in this section and no legal ruling is issued.
This record was entered in the discussion of the sūra's eleventh verse as well ("First, a note on method — and this note holds for the whole of the eleventh, twelfth and hundred and seventy-sixth verses") and I rely on that. A summary of what was written there:
- The shares are put in a table only from the verse's own wording.
- The debates over reckoning — what is to be done when the shares exceed or fall short of the whole — are not entered into.
- The differences among the schools of law are not the subject of this text.
- The table below is not a fatwā and cannot be read as a guide to practice. It is not binding.
The table gives the verse's own clauses in order. Nothing outside the verse's wording has been added to the table.
| Case (the verse's wording) | The share the verse gives |
|---|---|
| Ini'mruʾun halaka laysa lahū waladun wa lahū ukhtun | Fa-lahā niṣfu mā tarak — half of what he leaves |
| Wa huwa yarithuhā in lam yakun lahā walad | The brother inherits from her — no amount stated |
| Fa-in kānata'thnatayni | Fa-lahuma'l-thuluthāni mimmā tarak — two-thirds |
| Wa in kānū ikhwatan rijālan wa nisāʾan | Fa-li'l-dhakari mithlu ḥaẓẓi'l-unthayayn |
And one thing visible in the table must be recorded: the verse counts four cases and gives an explicit fraction in three of them, and not in one. This is a countable fact.
The word occurred at the twelfth verse of this sūra as well, and was treated there in detail under the heading "كَلَٰلَة — the analysis of the word". I rely on that treatment and do not repeat it.
What belongs here is this: the word occurs twice in the sūra, and both times in the context of inheritance.
| Verse | Wording | Subject |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | Wa in kāna rajulun yūrathu kalālatan awi'mraʾatun | A brother or a sister — a sixth |
| 176 | Yuftīkum fi'l-kalāla | A sister (or sisters) and siblings |
The difference between the two verses must be recorded, and it is a datum of the text: in the twelfth verse a share is given for a single sibling; in the hundred and seventy-sixth several cases are counted. How this difference is to be reconciled is a matter of classical jurisprudence and is not the subject of this text.
And the construction mithlu ḥaẓẓi'l-unthayayn occurs for the second time in the sūra: at the eleventh and hundred and seventy-sixth verses. This is a countable fact.
The records entered in the discussion of the eleventh verse hold here too, and I do not repeat them.
Two explanations of the case of the construction an taḍillū are transmitted in the literature of grammar:
| Explanation | How |
|---|---|
| A | A negation is understood: an lā taḍillū — "so that you may not go astray" |
| B | Karāhata an taḍillū is understood — "because your going astray is not wanted" |
And the choice of the verb must be recorded: yubayyinu — from the root ب-ي-ن, "to make clear, to separate one thing from another".
And this coincides with the sūra's twenty-sixth verse: yurīdu'llāhu li-yubayyina lakum. The same verb occurs in the middle of the sūra as a statement of will and at its end as a ground.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the verb the two verses share: the sūra says twice why its rulings are laid down — and on both occasions the answer is to make clear.
"The most striking side of the structure is that the sūra's closing section opens with a fatwā and closes with a fatwā. The hundred and twenty-seventh verse begins wa yastaftūnaka fi'l-nisāʾ and names the orphan girls; the hundred and seventy-sixth begins yastaftūnaka and gives the ruling on kalāla."
"The sūra opens with the word al-arḥām (the ties of kinship) (1) and closes with the discussion of kalāla — the estate of a person who leaves neither child nor father (176)."
The sūra's last ruling ties the share of the person who leaves behind neither child nor father to his siblings. The tie, that is, is not cut even at its thinnest point; it is carried one ring further out.