this is that the slave is valued both without any defect and with these two defects. The purchase price is then reduced in proportion to the reduction in value. Thus, if his value without defects is four hundred and his value with the defects is two hundred, half the purchase price is deducted.

May he recover the entire purchase price from the master who concealed the defect? There is a well-known disagreement among the scholars concerning this. The position of Mālik and Ahmad, according to the more explicit of the two reports from him, is that he may recover the entire purchase price from him. Abū Hanīfah, al-Shāfi‘ī, and Ahmad, in his other opinion, held that he may recover that from him.

He was asked:

A man bought a slave woman, and it became apparent that she was in love with the master who had sold her. The second owner then sold her to a third. May the third return her to the second, and may the second return her to the first, or not?

He replied:

Yes. This is a defect that ordinarily reduces her value considerably. If it is established and the purchaser was unaware of it, he may return her to his seller, the second purchaser. If the second purchaser was unaware of the defect, he may return her to the first seller. Allah knows best.