Mirath - The Laws of Islamic Inheritance

This is the last category of residuary heirs. They inherit in the absence
of the first three categories. As in the previous categories, only the
males will be eligible to inherit. Here, one must remember that even
though the uncles may be a generation above the deceased, while
their sons are of the same generation, the relationship to the deceased
is through the uncle first, i.e. the uncle (or the deceased’s father’s
father’s son) has three links, while cousin (or the deceased’s father’s
father’s son’s son) has four links. So the uncle is more deserving than
the cousin, and would (through the second principle) exclude him, in
the case of the residue being between them.
The third principle (The stronger ties exclude the weaker ties) would
also be implied here, i.e. The father’s full brother will be more
deserving than the father’s consanguine brother, after whom the full
uncle’s son will be more deserving than the consanguine uncle’s son.
THE METHOD OF PUTTING THE PROPORTIONS TOGETHER
As we begin to get a clearer idea of how much a person gets, we need
to know how this would look in relationship to others in the total
estate. i.e. how do the portions fit together?
This too is done systematically. The process involves determining the
lowest common multiple (the smallest number in which all allotments
fit as whole numbers) which will become the total number of
allotments. The proportions will then be taken from this number.
Initially, this number will be one of seven possible numbers. These are:
2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, and 24. Of these the first five are the denominators of
the six portions that are used in inheritance (1/3 and 2/3 share the
same denominator, thus from the six, only five denominators are
present). These five numbers are used when they are alone, or
themselves represent the lowest common multiple, e.g. if 1/2 and 1/8
come together, 8 is the lowest multiple.
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