In summary, the final part of this chapter concerns the rulings pertaining to a slave woman, and it addresses several matters:

First: a slave woman becomes a marital bed for her master when he has intercourse with her; before that, she is not considered a marital bed.

Second: if she is a marital bed and gives birth less than six months after he had intercourse with her, and the child survives, the child is not ascribed to the master, but is his property, because it was born of his slave woman.

Third: if he sells her after acknowledging that he had intercourse with her, and she gives birth to a child in less than six months, the child is his in lineage, and the sale is invalid.

Issue: With regard to lineage and clientage, the child follows his father. Thus, it is said, “So-and-so, son of So-and-so,” and not, “son of So-and-so’s mother,” unless his lineage through his father is unknown; in that case, he is ascribed to his mother, as mentioned previously.

With regard to clientage, if the father is emancipated, the child follows his father, and his clientage belongs to the one who emancipated him.

With regard to freedom and ownership, the child follows his mother. Thus, if his mother is free, the child is free, even if the father is enslaved. If an enslaved man marries a free woman, the child is free. Likewise, with regard to ownership, the child follows his mother: if a free man marries another person’s slave woman, the child belongs to her master.

With regard to religion, the child follows whichever of the two parents has the superior religion. Thus, the child of a Muslim man and a Christian woman is Muslim. Likewise, if a disbeliever has intercourse with a believing woman under a mistaken assumption of lawfulness, the child is Muslim and follows his mother, because Islam prevails and is not prevailed over.