patronage belongs to the Muslim community. Asbagh and those who permitted emancipation without retaining patronage understood a man’s declaration to his slave, “You are released without patronage,” to mean that he intended to emancipate him on behalf of the Muslims and assign the reward of manumission to them rather than to himself. Ibn al-Mājishūn and those who disallowed it understood him to mean that he intended to retain the reward of manumission for himself while assigning patronage to the Muslims. Ibn al-Qāsim considered his intention unclear, and therefore regarded such a declaration as reprehensible at the outset. This, in my view, explains the disagreement over emancipation without retaining patronage.

Do you not see that if a man said to his slave, “You are free on my behalf, and your patronage belongs to the Muslims,” there would be no disagreement that this is permissible and that patronage belongs to the Muslims? I mean within our school. Outside our school, however, al-Shāfiʿī and Abū Hanīfa hold that if a man says to his slave, “You are free on behalf of the Muslims,” patronage belongs to him, not to the Muslims. This follows their principle that when someone emancipates his slave on another person’s behalf without that person’s permission, patronage belongs to the emancipator, not to the person on whose behalf the slave was emancipated. They adduce as evidence the words of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: “Patronage belongs only to the one who emancipates.” Yet if they rely on this apparent meaning, they must also apply it to manumission performed by an agent and to manumission on another person’s behalf with his permission. This is clear, and neither of them can avoid this consequence.

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Since we understand the Prophet’s statement, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, “Patronage belongs to the one who emancipates,” to mean the person who receives the reward of manumission, someone through whom a man embraces Islam acquires no patronage over him. This is our position and that of the jurists of the major centres. Is hāq ibn Rāhawayh, however, held that he does acquire patronage over him. He cited the report that “Tamīm al-Dārī said to the Prophet, peace be upon him, ‘O Messenger of Allah, what is the sunnah concerning someone through whom a man embraces Islam?’ He replied, ‘He has the greater claim to him during his lifetime and after his death.’”

We understand this to mean that he has the greater claim to support him, attend to his affairs, and undertake his burial when he dies. This is indicated by the Prophet’s statement, peace be upon him: “Patronage belongs only to the one who emancipates.” Moreover, patronage arises only from an act of beneficence, whereas someone through whom another embraces Islam has conferred no such benefit. And Allah grants success.