COMMENTARY Qur'an...

COMMENTARY Qur'an: Allah enjoins you concerning your children: The male shall have the equal of the portion of two females; "al-Isa" and "at-tawsiyah" (to entrust, to enjoin); ar-Raghib says in Mufradatu 'l-Qur'an: "al-Wasiyyah" = to direct someone - with a shade of exhortation — to do something." The use of the word al-awlad (children) instead of al-abna' (sons) shows that the rule of one or two shares is restricted to the deceased's immediate children.

As for the children's children, how low so ever, they should get the share of their progenitor through whom they are connected to the deceased; thus a son's daughter would get two shares while a daughter's son would be given one share — provided there is no one nearer to take their precedence. Likewise, the offspring of brothers and sisters would get the share of him or her through whom they are connected to the deceased.

[All this is inferred from the word, al-awlad whose root word signifies birth.] But the word, al-ibn (son) does not necessarily mean immediate child, as the word, al-ab (father), may be used in a general sense for other than the immediate progenitor. As for the divine words at the end of the verse: your parents and your children, you know not which of them is the nearer to you in usefulness, we shall explain later that there is a special consideration which has made the word, al-abna' (lit.

sons) preferable to al-awlad (children). The expression, "The male shall have the equal of the portion of two females", was chosen to point to the nullification of the system prevalent in the era of ignorance whereby women were not given any share in inheritance. This expression takes the female’s share as granted and confirmed, and based the male's share on it - that it is double of it.

Or let us say that the female's share is treated as the yardstick of legislation and the male's share is fixed with its help. If it were not for this consideration, it could simply be said:, the female shall have the half of the male's share; but it would not have given that connotation, and the context would have changed. — as you may see. This theme has been mentioned by a scholar and the point seems well-established.