Section
The risk relating to the enslaved woman during custodial placement rests with the seller, who must also bear her maintenance expenses. Thus, any death or physical impairment is at the seller’s risk. If she dies, the purchaser may withhold the entire price if he has not yet paid it, or recover it if he has. If she suffers physical impairment, he may choose either to return her on account of the defect or to retain her. As for defects unrelated to her body, such as fornication, theft, drinking wine, and the like, the majority of Mālik’s followers—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—hold that he may return her on these grounds. Ibn Habīb, however, reports from Asbagh that he may not.
The majority’s reasoning is that, had such a defect existed before the sale, it would have justified returning her. If it arises during custodial placement, it therefore likewise entitles him to return her, just as physical impairment does. Asbagh’s reasoning is that allowing this would prevent the seller from ever selling her: whenever she wished to remain with him, she could engage in such conduct during custodial placement and consequently be returned to him. A course that has this consequence must therefore be disallowed.
Section
Any property she acquires through a gift, charity, or the like belongs to the seller, unless the purchaser stipulated that her property be included in the sale. In that case, any property she acquires during custodial placement follows the property included in the sale.
Section
As for a child born to her, Ibn al-Qāsim said that the child belongs to the purchaser, because the child is like a part of her body, the analogous case being bodily growth. Ashhab said that the child belongs to the seller. His reasoning is that the child is an increase that becomes separate from her during custodial placement, the analogous case being an increase in property.
Section
If exemption from liability for pregnancy is stipulated in the sale of an enslaved woman of superior quality, the sale is invalid. If she dies after the purchaser has taken possession of her, the loss falls on him, in accordance with the rules governing invalid sales. This applies after she has completed