and the patron has pre-deceased him, the freedman’s estate devolves upon the patron’s sons alone, not upon his daughters.
Women have no entitlement to walāʾ except in four cases: a slave they themselves set free; a slave liberated by someone whom they had previously emancipated; a slave with whom they have concluded a manumission contract (kitāba); or a slave freed by a mukātab who had been under contract with them.
If the patron leaves behind a son together with the grandsons of another son, the freedman’s estate goes to the surviving son to the exclusion of the grandsons, while the right of walāʾ is assigned to the eldest among the agnates.
When a man embraces Islam at the hands of another and pledges walāʾ to him on the understanding that the patron will inherit from him and assume liability for his blood-money, or he accepts Islam at the hand of one person and afterwards assigns his walāʾ to someone else, the walāʾ is valid and the responsibility for blood-money rests on that patron. If the convert dies leaving no heirs, his estate passes to the patron; but if he does leave heirs, they take precedence over the patron.
The client may transfer his walāʾ from that patron to another as long as the first patron has not yet paid blood-money on his behalf; once the patron has borne such liability, the client may no longer shift his walāʾ to anyone else.
A person who already enjoys the status of patron through having emancipated a slave may not take anyone else into his walāʾ.