Relatives are relegated to the outer family for the purposes of succession not because of their distance or the degree of their removal from the praepositus but because of the nature of their relationship or their sex. Among the vast complex of female and non-agnatic relatives which constitutes the outer family are persons who are as “near” to the praepositus as members of the inner family. For example, a father's father, a son's child or a brother's son are “ordinary heirs” of the inner family; but a mother's father, a daughter's child or a brother's daughter are members of the outer family. It is also apparent that, outside the circle of the praepositus' closest relatives, in any given class of relatives – such as that of nephews and nieces – the number of members of the outer family is potentially far larger than that of members of the inner family, so that the likelihood of this class being represented solely by members of the outer family is correspondingly greater.

The conflicting doctrines of the Sunnī schools

Cases of succession by members of the outer family are, however, exceptional. Under Mālikī law the outer family is never admitted to inheritance because, failing the survival of any male agnate relative of the praepositus, the Public Treasury succeeds as a residuary heir. In Hanafī, Shāfiʿī and Hanbalī law, rights of inheritance do pass to relatives of the outer family, but only in the absence of any blood relative of the inner family; and since they are thus, in this majority view, totally excluded by any Qurʾanic heir save the spouse relict, or by any male agnate however distant, the prospect of their being in fact called to succession is somewhat remote.