Book of Manumission

726 — The scholars unanimously agree that if a man, while in good health and financially able, frees a slave of his, the manumission is binding upon him.

727 — They also agree that if a man comes to own his parents (1) or his child, they are set free the very moment he acquires them.

728 — They unanimously hold that even partial ownership of any of the persons just mentioned likewise results in their immediate emancipation.

729 — They concur that if a man acquires ownership of either of his parents or of any of his paternal or maternal grandmothers, they are freed at once.

730 — They unanimously agree that when a man says to his slave, “You are free; I have set you free; you are emancipated; you are manumitted,” intending thereby to grant freedom, the slave becomes free forthwith and the former master no longer has any claim over him.

731 — They agree that if a man frees what is in the womb of his female slave and she then gives birth to a living child, the child is free while the mother remains a slave.

732 — The scholars are unanimous that if a man says to his female slave, “Every child you bear is free,” and she later bears children, those children are indeed free.

733 — Everyone from whom I have transmitted holds unanimously that a minor cannot validly manumit a slave.

734 — They unanimously agree that the lives of all Muslims are equal.

735 — They agree that if a man frees a slave on behalf of another person without that person’s authorization, the right of walāʾ (patronage) belongs to the one who carried out the manumission.

736 — The scholars unanimously hold that anything a mortally ill person initiates during the illness that ends in his death—be it a gift to someone (2), a charitable donation, or a manumission—comes out of one-third of his estate; whatever exceeds that one-third is to be rejected (3).