Thus Allah Most High ruled out a son’s being a slave. If this holds for a son, it applies all the more to a father, given the honor due to him and the rights Allah has granted him. Do you not see that He linked gratitude to one’s parents with gratitude to Himself, saying:

“Be grateful to Me and to your parents.” [Luqmān: 14]

‘Umar’s words, “He is free,” are understood as a declaration of his freedom, not an act of emancipation. Had he become free through ‘Umar’s emancipating him, his patronage would have belonged to ‘Umar, since patronage cannot be given away as a gift.

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Mawālī (persons joined by ties of affiliation) are of four kinds:

Those who do not inherit from one another: Muslims who are not related by lineage.

Those who inherit from one another: Muslims who are related by lineage.

Those who inherit but are not inherited from: Muslim patrons who have emancipated slaves.

Those who are inherited from but do not inherit: emancipated slaves.

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There are three kinds of patrons who inherit but are not inherited from: the patron who emancipated the man himself, his father’s patron, and his mother’s patron.

If a man is free through emancipation, his patronage belongs to the patron who emancipated him. If he has no patron of his own, being free without having been emancipated, his patronage belongs to the patron who emancipated his father. If his father was free without having been emancipated, his patronage belongs to the patron who emancipated his grandfather. This continues in the same manner, however far back his ancestry extends.

If none of his forefathers was free through emancipation, but all were free without having been emancipated, the Muslims inherit from him, and his mother’s patrons have no share in his patronage. The same applies if one of his forefathers was a free man