Chapter on Tadbīr (Post-Mortem Emancipation)

Tadbīr is the suspension of emancipation until the owner’s death, as when he says to his slave, “If I die, you are free after my death.” For it to be valid, the declarant must be a person whose bequests are legally effective, and the manumission must be taken from the one-third portion of his estate.

Both its explicit and allusive formulas4 carry the same legal force as an immediate act of emancipation. The declaration is sound whether it is absolute—such as “You are a mudabbir”; restricted, as in “If I die this year or during this illness, you are a mudabbir”; conditional, for example, “If Zayd arrives, you are a mudabbir”; or time-bound5, as in “You are a mudabbir today” or “for one year.”

A mudabbir may be lawfully sold or given as a gift, and if he returns to his original owner’s possession, the tadbīr is reinstated.

Tadbīr is nullified by three matters: dedicating the slave as an endowment6, the slave’s killing of his master, and the owner’s siring a child with a female slave.