Shaykh al-Islām—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:

“A man owned a slave woman, whom he freed and married, and then he died. A suitable man subsequently proposed to her. May her former master’s children give her in marriage?”

He replied:

“Praise be to Allah. If a suitable man proposes to her, her former master’s children must give her in marriage. If they refuse, the judge or the manumitter’s agnatic relatives may give her in marriage, if he has agnatic relatives other than his children.

“Some scholars, however, give precedence to the judge when the nearest guardian wrongfully prevents her from marrying. This is the position of al-Shāfiʿī and one position reported from Ahmad. Others give precedence to the agnatic relatives, as does Abū Hanīfah according to the well-known position reported from him. If the manumitter has no agnatic relatives, the judge gives her in marriage, by agreement of the scholars. Likewise, if all the agnatic relatives refuse, the judge gives her in marriage, by agreement. If the agnatic relatives authorize the judge to give her in marriage, that is permissible by agreement of the scholars.”

He—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:

“A man married a woman who had been freed by another man, then divorced her. She married someone else, who also divorced her. She then came to the town where her first husband lived, and he wished to remarry her. She had no certificate of release with her, and he feared that he would be asked to produce one. They therefore appeared before the town’s judge, and he claimed that she was his slave woman, that he had fathered a child by her, and that he wished to free her and draw up a document for her. Is this marriage contract valid or not?”