is likewise forbidden through slave ownership. Thus, a man may not take as concubines women whom he is permanently forbidden to marry. Nor may he have intercourse with a concubine while in the pilgrim state of consecration, while fasting, during her menstruation, or in any other circumstances in which intercourse with a wife is prohibited; the prohibition applies all the more to a concubine.

As for the waiting period to establish that the womb is free of pregnancy, the Sunnah has not prescribed it unconditionally for every female slave. Rather, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, forbade a man to water another man’s crop with his own fluid.

He also said concerning the female captives of Awtās:

“No pregnant woman is to be approached sexually until she gives birth, nor a woman who is not pregnant until she has completed the waiting period to establish that her womb is free of pregnancy.”

This concerned slaves taken as captives. He did not say the same concerning women acquired by inheritance, purchase, or other means. The requirement, then, is that if a female slave has been having intercourse, intercourse with her is forbidden until she has completed that waiting period, lest a man water another man’s crop with his own fluid.

But if it is known that her owner was not having intercourse with her—because she is a virgin, because the owner is a woman or a child, or because he truthfully states, “I was not having intercourse with her”—then neither a revealed text nor analogy provides any basis for prohibiting intercourse with her until she has completed that waiting period.

Section

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, ruled that blood money was payable by the ʿāqilah: those who support a man and come to his aid. In his time, a man’s ʿāqilah consisted of his agnatic kin. When ʿUmar’s time came, he placed this liability upon those enrolled in the dīwān (state register). Hence the jurists differed concerning it.