Chapter on Tadbir (posthumous manumission)

If a master says to his slave, “When I die you are free,” or “You are free after my death,” or “You are a mudabbir,” or “I have declared you mudabbir,” the slave thereby becomes a mudabbir. Such a slave may neither be sold nor given away, although the master remains entitled to make use of him, to hire him out, and—if the slave is a female—to have intercourse with her and to marry her off.

When the master dies, the mudabbir is emancipated out of one-third of the estate, provided the value of the slave can be covered by that third. If the master owns nothing else, the slave must work to pay two-thirds of his value. Should the master leave outstanding debts, the mudabbir must work to pay his full value to the creditors. Any child born to a female mudabbirah inherits the same mudabbir status.

If the master makes the tadbir conditional upon dying under a specific circumstance—such as saying, “If I die from this illness,” or “on this journey,” or “from such-and-such illness”—the slave does not acquire mudabbir status and may be sold. Yet if the master then dies under the stated condition, the slave is freed exactly as a mudabbir would be.