He stated:

“Any woman who bears a child to her owner becomes free when he dies.”

Neither of these two ḥadīths is deemed authentic by the specialists. Abū ʿUmar Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr—may Allah have mercy on him—reported this, and he is an authority in the field.

They also advance a rational argument: once the child is connected to her, a special sanctity attaches to her because the child is literally part of her. They relay this reasoning from ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him—when he ruled that such women should not be sold, saying:

“Our flesh has mingled with their flesh, and our blood with their blood.”

When does a woman become an umm al-walad? There is consensus that she attains this status when her master owns her before she conceives by him.

They differ, however, if he acquires her while she is already pregnant by him or after she has given birth:

• Mālik said: She is not an umm al-walad if she delivers the child before he owns her, even if he later buys her and the child.
• Abū Ḥanīfah said: She does become an umm al-walad.

Mālik’s own rulings diverge when the master purchases her while she is pregnant. By strict analogy, she should be an umm al-walad in every circumstance, for it is contrary to noble character that a man should sell the mother of his own child. The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “I was sent only to perfect noble character.”

By what occurrence does she become an umm al-walad?

• Mālik said: Whatever she delivers that is known to be a child—whether a lump of flesh (muḍgha) or a blood-clot (ʿalaqa)—confers the status.
• Al-Shāfiʿī said: Some formed features, such as discernible limbs or outlines, must appear.

Their dispute thus hinges on what legally counts as “birth” and as a bona fide child.

As for the rulings of servitude that still apply to her, they agree that in testimony, legal penalties, blood-money, and compensation for injuries she is treated like any other bondwoman. Most of those who forbid her sale see no new circumstance here that would permit it, except for the report from ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb that she may be sold if she commits fornication.

Al-Shāfiʿī has two opinions about whether the master may employ her labor and profit from it for the rest of his life.

• Mālik said: He may not; the only right that remains to him is intimate relations.
• Al-Shāfiʿī said: He may.

Mālik’s proof is that, since the master no longer has the right to sell her person, he likewise lacks the right to rent out her services—though he allows the hire of her children by others because their sanctity, in his view, is less. Al-Shāfiʿī’s proof is the established consensus that he may lawfully have intercourse with her.

The crux of the disagreement is whether leasing her services is closer to intercourse or to outright sale; the stronger analogy must be preferred.

When, then, does she become free? There is unanimous agreement that her emancipation takes effect upon the master’s death. I know of no contemporary scholar who says she is freed from one-third of the estate, and the analogy to a mudabbar is weak according to those who hold that a mudabbar is emancipated only out of that third.