He was asked:

A man bought a slave woman who was healthy and free of defects, but she ran away on the very day he bought her, without having been beaten or mistreated. May the purchaser recover the purchase price from the seller before she is found and brought back?

He replied:

Praise be to Allah. If the slave woman had previously been known to run away, the seller concealed this defect, and she then ran away from the purchaser, the purchaser may demand repayment of the purchase price from the seller, according to the more correct of the scholars’ two opinions. This is the position of Mālik and the explicitly reported one of Ahmad’s two opinions. According to the other opinion, the seller may be required to pay compensation for the defect.

If, however, she had not run away before, but ran away because of something the purchaser did to her, the seller bears no liability. If the defect of running away, or any other defect, arises after possession has been taken, the purchaser has no right to return the slave according to Abū Hanīfah, al-Shāfiʿī, and Ahmad.

Mālik, however, says:

He may return the slave on that account until three full days have elapsed, and beyond that up to one year; he may return the slave for insanity, leprosy, or vitiligo. Allah knows best.