Chapter on Istilād (the slave-girl who becomes an umm walad)

1. When a slave-girl bears a child from her master, she automatically becomes his umm walad. She may not be sold or otherwise transferred in ownership. The master, however, still has the right to have intercourse with her, to employ her, to hire her out, and to marry her off. The child’s lineage is established only if the master acknowledges it; but if she later bears another child, that child’s lineage is confirmed without any further acknowledgment, and any denial on the master’s part is accepted. Should the master have previously married her to someone else and she then bears a child, the ruling follows the status of her husband. At the master’s death she is freed out of the entire estate, and she is not required to work off anything for the creditors even if the estate is in debt.

2. If a man has lawful intercourse—through marriage—with another person’s slave-girl, she bears him a child, and he later acquires her, she becomes his umm walad.

3. If a father has intercourse with his son’s slave-girl, she bears a child, and he claims the child, the lineage is established, she becomes his umm walad, and he must pay her full value to the son. He is not, however, liable for the ʿaqar (the statutory indemnity for sexual use) or for the value of the child.

4. If a son has intercourse with his father’s slave-girl while the father is still alive, paternity is not established. If the father has died, lineage is established through the grandfather just as it would be through the father.

5. When a slave-girl is jointly owned by two partners and she bears a child, then:
   • If only one partner claims paternity, lineage is established from him and she becomes his umm walad. He must pay one-half of the ʿaqar and one-half of her value, and he owes nothing for the child’s value.
   • If both partners claim paternity, lineage is established from both of them and she becomes an umm walad for both. Each partner is liable for half of the ʿaqar, offsetting what each owes the other. The son inherits from each partner the full share of a son, while each partner inherits from him the share due to a single father.

6. If a master has intercourse with the female slave of his mukatab (a slave on a manumission contract) and she bears a child which he claims, then—
   • Should the mukatab confirm the claim, the child’s lineage is established from the master; the master must pay the ʿaqar and the value of the child, yet the mother does not become his umm walad.
   • If the mukatab denies the claim, the lineage is not established.