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244chapter fiveFIf it is said that X = ___ (F = number of female heirs; M = numberM D2of male heirs), and Y = ____ (D1 = share of the male heirs; D2 =D1share of the female heirs), and if the ratio of male-female shares is theinverse/reverse ratio of the male-female number of inheritors, then it1follows that: Y = ___XThis last equation describes the geometrical figure of a hyperbola.It is based on the application of only two limits of Allah (1 + 3). Wecan only achieve a hyperbola if the ratio between male and femalenumbers is greater than zero and smaller than 2 or if it equals 2:F0 < __ ≤ 2MIf we apply the second of Allah’s limits which says: ‘If there be morethan two females (nis§" an ), then they should receive two-thirds of whathe (the deceased) leaves…’, we would first have to define the Arabicterm nis§". The usage of this term in the text is particularly odd sinceone would expect to see the proper term for ‘female’ which is in§th.So why does the verse use nis§"? Nis§" is the plural of imra"a and means‘women’. It connotes mature women, not girls. This is significantbecause even though every woman is obviously female, not everyfemale is a woman who has reached her puberty. By using the termnis§", and not in§th, the condition of the verse is that female heirsmust have reached puberty (one should read: ‘If there be adultwomen [nis§" an ] more than two …’). This is different from the firstinjunction. Since every creature is either male or female (‘that Hedid create in pairs—male and female’ [Al-Najm 53:45]), we wereable to conclude that Allah’s first limit (1) ‘to the male (dhakar), aportion equal to that of two females (unthayain)’ implied a distributionof shares to male and female heirs regardless of their status of beingeither a minor or an adult.Nis§" is, as we have said, the plural of imra"a, ‘woman’. By definitionit refers to more than two (ithnatain), that is, three or more. Butwhy does the text say: ‘adult women (nis§" an ), more than two ( fawq