The paternal aunt ('amma): marriage bars, inheritance, custody and maintenance

العَمَّة

'Amma, the aunt, is the father's sister, and the word also covers the grandfather's sister; the plural is 'ammat ¹. The jurists agree that marriage to an aunt is forbidden by blood and by suckling, on the Qur'anic list of forbidden women and the prophetic prohibition of marrying a woman together with her aunt ¹. Her inheritance is disputed; those who admit distant kin to inheritance give her a share, and those who deny it do not ¹. She has a right to custody after those who have a prior right, following the jurists' order ². Her maintenance is disputed: the Hanafis require it for a relative within the forbidden degrees, the Malikis and Shafi'is require it on conditions, and the Hanbalis require it on the basis of inheritance by kinship, while al-Qadi among the Hanbalis denies it ².