Procedure for dividing property when the order of contracts involving multiple wives is uncertain.
Chapter on Distant Kindred (Dhawu al-Arham)
Al-Mughni
Book of Inheritance Shares (Farā'id)
Primary text
If a man contracts marriage with one woman in one contract, and four women in another contract, and then dies leaving a brother, and the prior contract is unknown, Abu Hanifa's position dictates that each woman claiming a full dowry, which the heir denies, receives half the claimed dowry. The remainder is then partitioned; the one woman claims one-fourth of that remainder, receiving half of it, and the four women share the other half.
Supporting text
Al-Shafi'i dictates that the maximum obligatory dowry is four dowries, and this amount is taken. A dowry is held in suspension (mawquf) shared among the five women. The remainder is divided such that the one woman claims one-fourth of it as inheritance, and the heir claims three-fourths, leading to further suspensions and divisions among the wives and the heir.