Book of Mothers of Children (Ummhāt al-Awlād)

When a man impregnates his own female slave and she gives birth—whether to a living child, a stillborn child, or to a fetus for which a ghurra (the prescribed indemnity for a miscarried fetus) is due—she becomes free upon the master’s death.

If he impregnates a slave who belongs to someone else through a valid marriage, the child is a slave and she does not acquire the status of an umm walad if he later purchases her. Likewise, if the intercourse took place under a mistaken assumption of lawfulness (shubha), the child is free, yet she still does not become an umm walad upon his subsequent ownership of her, according to the more apparent view.

The master retains the right to have intercourse with an umm walad, to make use of her labor, to lease out her services, to receive compensation for injuries done to her, and—on the sounder opinion—to marry her off without her consent. It is forbidden, however, to sell her, pledge her, or give her away as a gift.

Should she later bear a child through a husband or through fornication, that child likewise belongs to the master and is freed upon his death, just as she is. Any children she bore before becoming an umm walad, whether conceived in wedlock or in fornication, do not obtain freedom at the master’s death, and he may sell them.

The emancipation of the umm walad is charged against the gross estate. Allah knows best.