free. They said: because the effective cause is the enslavement of the children, and that has now been removed. This was the view preferred by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him. However, we say: every condition not found in the Book of Allah is invalid. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, did not stipulate this; He did not say, “Unless he stipulates that his children will be free.” Moreover, it is beneath one’s dignity and contrary to honorable conduct for a free man to marry a slave woman. Even in people’s eyes, if he marries a slave woman, it becomes a matter of public notice: “So-and-so, a man of noble lineage, has married the slave woman of so-and-so!” It entails disgrace and shame. A person should avoid everything that brings him reproach.

Thus, the correct view, indicated by the Noble Quran, is that it is not lawful for him to marry a slave woman except under the conditions Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has mentioned. Even if he stipulates that his children will be free, this condition is not valid, due to the general wording of the verse. Our claim that the effective cause is the enslavement of his children may be challenged by someone who says: “Who told you that this is the effective cause?” Even if we grant that it is part of the effective cause, the ruling is not established unless the complete effective cause is present.

A slave may not marry his mistress, nor may a master marry his slave woman. A free man may marry his father’s slave woman, but not his son’s slave woman. A free woman may not marry the slave of her child.

His statement, “A slave may not marry his mistress,” means that this is prohibited indefinitely, until he leaves her ownership. So long as she remains his mistress, it is not lawful for him to marry her. If it is asked: What is the evidence, when Allah says:

“And lawful to you are all beyond these.” [al-Nisa’ 4:24]

We reply: the evidence is the consensus of the scholars. Ibn al-Mundhir said: “The scholars are unanimously agreed upon it.”

Consensus is one of the four proofs: the Quran, the sunnah, consensus, and sound analogical reasoning. The meaning also necessitates this, because a mistress cannot herself be under another’s authority, while a husband is the master of his wife. If we say that she is his mistress, how can she be under his authority?! He would have authority over her; this is incompatible.