1240 – On the authority of ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her) who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) declared, “The walāʾ belongs solely to the one who manumits.” Agreed upon, occurring within a longer report. ⦗1⦘

What is taken from the ḥadith:

1. This statement is part of the extended narrative of Barīrah mentioned earlier in the Book of Sales.
2. The ḥadith shows that the walāʾ goes to the emancipator; if the seller of a slave stipulates to the purchaser that the walāʾ shall remain his, such a stipulation is invalid.
3. Concerning the seller who tried to reserve the walāʾ after selling the slave, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Any condition that is not in the Book of Allah is void, even if there be one hundred such conditions; the judgment of Allah is more entitled to be followed and the condition laid down by Allah is more secure. The walāʾ belongs only to the one who sets the slave free.”
4. Al-Rawḍ and its marginal commentary state: If the seller stipulates that when the purchaser frees the slave, the walāʾ is to revert to the seller, the stipulation alone is null while the sale contract remains valid, following the story of Barīrah. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) invalidated the condition but said about the transaction itself: “Buy her, emancipate her, and stipulate the walāʾ for them, for the walāʾ belongs only to the one who manumits.”
5. Ibn al-Qayyim said: Every stipulation that runs contrary to the ruling of Allah is void; only those conditions are regarded as valid that Allah has neither forbidden nor restrained.