Brother's son (nephew)

A brother's son is the male issue of a brother, full, paternal, maternal or by fostering; without qualification the word means the blood relation. He takes the place of a brother when none is living, in inheritance, except in five matters. The jurists agree that he comes before the paternal uncle in inheritance, in bequest to the nearest kin and in guardianship of marriage. ^{1 2}

The five matters in which a nephew differs from a brother in inheritance are: he does not make his sister agnate; the grandfather excludes him; a number of such nephews does not reduce the mother's share from a third to a sixth; a maternal nephew does not take as a fixed-share heir; and he does not take the place of brothers in the musharraka case. In custody the grandfather comes first. The Malikis place him before the grandfather in bequest to the nearest kin and in guardianship of marriage. ^{1 2}

The jurists treat a brother's son in the zakat disbursements, in waqf and bequests to kin, in the revocation of gifts, in inheritance among agnates and those with blood-ties through a female, in the order of marriage guardians, in the prohibited degrees, in fostering, in custody, in judgement and testimony, and in manumission. ²