In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate.

Book of Manumission

Chapter: Those whose act of manumission is valid and takes effect, and those for whom it is invalid and therefore revoked

1. A declaration of manumission or divorce issued under coercion is invalid. The same applies to the manumission attempted by a spendthrift who has been placed under guardianship, and by a minor—except that a minor may validly free a slave‐woman who has borne him a child (an umm walad).

2. By contrast, the statements of an intoxicated person do take effect: both his manumission and his divorce are binding.

3. A ward may include in his will a bequest that a slave be freed after his death, but he may not free a slave during his lifetime.

4. A debtor whose liabilities exhaust his entire estate may not emancipate a slave without the permission of his creditors. If he does so without their consent, they may either ratify the manumission or annul it. Should they annul it and the debtor later acquire property while the slave remains in his hands, the debt is first settled from that new property and the slave’s emancipation then becomes effective.

5. The same ruling applies when a judge has sold the slave to satisfy the debt: if the creditors have not yet divided the proceeds and the debtor later comes into new wealth, the debt is discharged from that wealth, the slave is set free, and the sale is rescinded.

6. Moreover, when creditors have set aside a debtor’s emancipation of his female slaves, it is improper for any of them to have sexual relations with those women, since additional property may later accrue to the debtor that would render their emancipation obligatory.