If a man admits to having had relations with his own slave woman—even without full penetration—and she gives birth six months or more thereafter, the child is legally his, provided he does not claim that she observed an istibrāʾ (the post-coital waiting period) afterwards; he must swear an oath to this effect. If he has intercourse with her and then sells her, and she delivers in less than half a year, paternity is still attributed to him and the sale is void. Lineage is traced through the father, whereas the status of freedom or enslavement follows the mother.