the schools of Abū Hanīfah and Mālik, and according to one of the two reported views of Ahmad. It is not valid according to al-Shāfi‘ī and the other reported view of Ahmad. If he requests marriage, his master must arrange his marriage, because Allah Most High says:

“Marry off the unmarried among you and the righteous among your male and female slaves. If they are poor, Allah will enrich them out of His bounty.”

If he deceives a woman by claiming to be free, marries her and consummates the marriage, she is unquestionably entitled to a dower. But is she entitled to the stipulated dower, as Mālik held according to one report? Or to the customary dower for a woman of comparable standing, as held by Abū Hanīfah, al-Shāfi‘ī and Ahmad according to one report? Or are two-fifths due, as Ahmad held according to a third report? Scholars disagree on this.

This obligation may be secured against the slave himself, as held by Ahmad according to the best-known report from him, and by al-Shāfi‘ī according to one opinion; I believe this is also Abū Hanīfah’s position. Or is it a personal debt owed by the slave, for which he may be pursued once freed, as held by al-Shāfi‘ī in his later position, and by Abū Yūsuf, Muhammad and others?

The first view is more convincing. His claim to them that he was free was deception and a lie, and his subsequent consummation of the marriage on the strength of that lie was a wrong committed against them. The imams agree that if a slave wrongs someone by destroying his property, wounding him or killing him, liability for his wrongdoing attaches to the slave himself; it does not become a personal debt owed by his master. Rather, the master is told: “You may either redeem your slave from liability for this wrong or surrender him so that compensation for it may be recovered from his person.”

If he wishes to kill him, he must pay the lesser of the two amounts: the compensation due for the wrong or the slave’s value. This is the position of al-Shāfi‘ī, of Ahmad according to the best-known report from him, and of others.