Al-Sharḥ al-Mumtiʿ - Ibn al-'Uthaymin - (13/522)

Al-Sharḥ al-MumtiʿIbn al-'Uthaymin

Chapter

The owner is responsible for providing his slaves with food, clothing, and lodging; he must not burden them with excessively arduous work. If the two agree to a manumission contract, it is permissible. He should allow the slave to rest during the midday siesta, sleep, and prayer; when travelling, he should let him ride in turns. If a male slave seeks marriage, he should arrange his marriage or sell him. If a female slave seeks it, he should have intercourse with her, arrange her marriage, or sell her.

His statement, “The owner is responsible,” means: the master who owns him.

His statement, “for the maintenance of his slaves,” means slaves, male and female. Slavery has various causes, one of them being disbelief. Thus, when we fight disbelievers and take them captive, the Imam has discretion regarding those capable of fighting; whoever is not among those capable of fighting is a slave.

If a free man marries a female slave, his children become slaves and may be sold. For this reason, Imam Ahmad said: “When a free man marries a female slave, half of him becomes enslaved,” because the children will be slaves—unless it is stipulated that they are free, in which case they are free.

His statement, “food,” means that he must provide his slaves with cooked food, as well as drink. The author did not mention the latter because it is included under food.

His statement, “clothing and lodging,” means according to what is customary—that is, in accordance with prevailing custom. He is not required to house the slave as he houses himself, nor to clothe him as he clothes himself; rather, what is obligatory is what is customary. Undoubtedly, the more complete course is that he should provide him from what he himself wears and from where he himself lives.

His statement, “and that he must not burden him,” means that he is also required not to burden him. How is the verbal particle “that” construed here? The construction is: “and his not burdening him,” because they say that a negative particle is rendered as “non-.” Thus, when a verbal particle precedes a negative particle, and one wishes to convert the construction into a verbal noun, one substitutes “non-” for the negative particle: that is, his not burdening him.

فَصْلٌ وَعَلَيْهِ نَفَقَةُ رَقِيقِهِ طَعَاماً، وَكِسْوَةً، وَسُكْنَى، وَأَنْ لَا يُكَلِّفَهُ مُشِقّاً كَثِيراً، وَإِنِ اِتَّفَقَا عَلَى المُخَارَجَةِ جَازَ، وَيُريحُهُ وَقْتَ الْقَائِلَةِ، وَالنَّوْمِ، وَالصَّلَاةِ، وَيُرْكِبُهُ في السَّفَر عُقْبَةً، وَإِنْ طَلَبَ نِكَاحاً زَوَّجَهُ، أَوْ بَاعَهُ، وَإِنْ طَلَبَتْهُ أَمَةٌ وَطِئَهَا، أَوْ زَوَّجَهَا، أَوْ بَاعَهَا. قوله: «وعليه» أي: على المالك السيد. قوله: «نفقة رقيقه» أي: المملوك من ذكر وأنثى، والرق له أسباب منها الكفر، فالكفار إذا حاربناهم وسبيناهم، فمن كان من أهل القتال خير الإمام فيه، ومن لم يكن من أهل القتال فهو رقيق. وإذا تزوج الحر بالرقيقة صار أولاده أرقاء يباعون؛ ولهذا قال الإمام أحمد: إذا تزوج الحر رقيقة رَقَّ نصفُه؛ لأن الأولاد يكونون أرقاء، إلا إذا شرط أنهم أحرار فهم أحرار. قوله: «طعاماً» عليه أن يوفر لرقيقه طعاماً مطبوخاً، وكذلك شراباً، ولم يذكره المؤلف؛ لأنه داخل في الطعام. قوله: «وكسوة وسكنى» بالمعروف، أي: بما جرى به العرف، وليس بلازم أن يسكنه كما يسكن نفسه، أو يلبسه كما يلبس نفسه، وإنما الواجب بالمعروف، ولا شك أن الكمال أن يكون مما اكتسى، ومما سكن. قوله: «وأن لا يكلفه» يعني وعليه ألاَّ يكلفه، وكيف نقدر «أن» المصدرية هنا؟ التقدير وعدمُ تكليفه؛ لأنهم يقولون: إن حرف النفي يقدر بـ (عدم) فإذا دخل حرف مصدري على حرف نفي، فإذا أردت أن تحوّله إلى مصدر فقدر بدلاً عن أداة النفي (عدم) أي: عدم تكليفه.