al-Akdariyya: the grandfather and the sister

The case

A woman dies leaving her husband, her mother, her grandfather and one full or paternal sister. The husband takes a half and the mother a third, which leaves only a sixth, the grandfather's minimum. Normally a sister alongside the grandfather inherits as his co-residuary, and here she would receive nothing.

Zayd ruled in two steps. First the sister is given her fixed half and the case is raised by ʿawl. Then her share and the grandfather's are put together and divided between them as brother and sister, the grandfather taking twice her portion. Correcting the base for that division settles the case on 27.

Who follows it

The Mālikī, Shāfiʿī and Ḥanbalī schools, which follow Zayd on the grandfather and siblings, apply this ruling. In the Ḥanafī school the grandfather excludes all siblings, as Abū Bakr held, so the sister receives nothing and the question does not arise.

The name is explained in two ways: that the case was put to a man called Akdar, or that it "muddied" (kaddarat) Zayd's usual rules, since he otherwise gives a sister no fixed share beside the grandfather and does not raise a grandfather case by ʿawl.

When it stops being al-Akdariyya

The ruling is tied to a single sister. Add a paternal brother, or a second sister, and the ordinary rules of the grandfather with siblings, including muʿādda, take over instead.

Worked examples

Every share below is computed by the calculator's engine when this page loads. Open any example to change the family and see what moves.