or by mutual rescission of the sale. It makes no difference whether the slave-girl is a virgin, one whom the seller had already put through istibrāʾ (clearing the womb) before the sale, or one who has merely been transferred from the possession of a boy, a woman, or anyone else.

Istibrāʾ is also obligatory for a female slave who had a kitābah contract but then became unable to pay, and for a female apostate according to the sound view—but not for a woman who has only completed a fast, a retreat (iʿtikāf), or a state of consecration for pilgrimage; regarding iḥrām there is a secondary opinion. If a man purchases his own wife, istibrāʾ is recommended; some hold that it is obligatory. Should he come to own a slave-woman who is presently married or observing a waiting period, istibrāʾ is not required, but once that impediment ceases it becomes obligatory according to the predominant opinion.

The second cause that obligates istibrāʾ is the removal of a slave-woman’s bedding: when a woman with whom the master had intercourse, or who had become an umm walad (a slave who has borne him a child), loses that status through emancipation or through the master’s death. Even if the interval equal to an istibrāʾ has already elapsed for an umm walad, once he emancipates her or dies a fresh istibrāʾ is still required according to the sound view.

I say: If the master performs istibrāʾ for a slave-girl he has been intimate with and then emancipates her, no further istibrāʾ is required and she may marry immediately, for her case is not analogous to that of a free wife—Allah knows best. It is unlawful to marry a slave-girl who has been copulated with, or an umm walad, before she undergoes istibrāʾ, lest two lines of descent become confused. If a man emancipates his umm walad he may marry her without istibrāʾ according to the sound view; and if he emancipates her, or dies, while she is already married, no istibrāʾ is required.

The duration of istibrāʾ is one qurʾ—that is, a complete menstrual period—according to the new position. For a woman whose waiting-period is reckoned by months, it is one month, though another opinion puts it at three months. For a pregnant captive, or a woman whose master’s bedding ceased and who then gives birth, delivery of the child suffices. And if she is purchased while pregnant, it has already been stated that no immediate istibrāʾ is required.

I say: Istibrāʾ is effected, in the sound view, by delivery of a child conceived through fornication—Allah knows best. If the period required for istibrāʾ elapses after acquisition but before the new owner actually takes possession, it is counted when ownership was acquired through inheritance, and—according to the sound view—through purchase as well, but not through a gift. If a man buys a Magian woman who then menstruates and afterwards embraces Islam, that menstruation does not suffice for istibrāʾ.

It is forbidden to derive any sexual pleasure from a slave-woman undergoing istibrāʾ, except in the case of a captive, for whom every form short of intercourse is permissible—though some hold that even this is not allowed. When she says, “I have menstruated,” her word is accepted. If she withholds herself and the master says, “She informed me that the istibrāʾ is complete,” he is believed.

A slave-girl does not become a legal “bedding” (meaning: a woman whose child is attributable to the master) until actual intercourse occurs; therefore, if she bears a child after intercourse is possible the child is affiliated to him. If he admits intercourse yet denies paternity, claiming that istibrāʾ had been observed, the child is not ascribed to him according to the authoritative view. Should she deny that any istibrāʾ took place, he must swear that the child is not his—some say he must explicitly mention istibrāʾ in that oath. If she asserts intercourse while he denies it altogether and there is a child, he is not required to swear, according to the sound position. And if he says, “I did have intercourse but practiced coitus interruptus,” the child is nevertheless affiliated to him according to the sounder opinion.