Allah said,
﴿وَإِن كَانَ رَجُلٌ يُورَثُ كَلَـلَةً﴾
(If the man or woman whose inheritance is in question was left in Kalalah.) Kalalah
is a derivative of Iklil; the crown that surrounds the head. The meaning of Kalalah
in this Ayah is that the person's heirs come from other than the first degree of
relative.
Ash-Sha`bi reported that when Abu Bakr As-Siddiq was asked about the meaning
of Kalalah, he said, "I will say my own opinion about it, and if it is correct,
then this correctness is from Allah. However, if my opinion is wrong, it will be
my error and because of the evil efforts of Shaytan, and Allah and His Messenger
have nothing to do with it. Kalalah refers to the man who has neither descendants
nor ascendants." When `Umar became the Khalifah, he said, "I hesitate to contradict
an opinion of Abu Bakr." This was recorded by Ibn Jarir and others. In his Tafsir,
Ibn Abi Hatim recorded that Ibn `Abbas said, "I was among the last persons to see
`Umar bin Al-Khattab, and he said to me, `What you said was the correct opinion.'
I asked, `What did I say' He said, `That Kalalah refers to the person who has no
child or parents.''' This is also the opinion of `Ali bin Abi Talib, Ibn Mas`ud,
Ibn `Abbas, Zayd bin Thabit, Ash-Sha`bi, An-Nakha`i, Al-Hasan Al-Basri, Qatadah,
Jabir bin Zayd and Al-Hakam .
This is also the view of the people of Al-Madinah,
Kufah, Basrah, the Seven Fuqaha', the Four Imams and the majority of scholars of
the past and present, causing some scholars to declare that there is a consensus
on this opinion.
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