Chapter: The Manumission by a Joint-Owner and the Rules of Partial Emancipation

When a person owns a share of a slave in partnership with another and frees his own share, the case is examined. If the manumitting partner is insolvent, the emancipation of the portion he released is valid and he bears no further liability; the other partner’s share remains enslaved, whether that share be large or small. No siʿāya—redemption earnings—is imposed on the slave for the portion that was not manumitted. The slave must serve himself in proportion to the freedom he possesses, and he bears the expense of that service himself. He likewise serves the owner of the remaining enslaved portion in proportion to that portion, and its maintenance is borne by that owner.

If the slave dies leaving property, that property passes to the one who still owns the enslaved share, even if it is only one part in a hundred; neither the emancipator nor any freeborn child the slave may have inherits anything from it. In matters of divorce, prescribed penalties, and testimony, the partially emancipated slave is treated as a slave. If he is killed, his full value is payable to his master. If he is injured, the entire compensation (arsh) belongs to the master—though it is also reported that the compensation should be divided between the slave and his master in proportion to his freedom and his bondage, both views being attributed to Mālik.

The master has no right to seize the slave’s property or to compel him to marry. If the emancipator possesses sufficient wealth to cover the value of the remaining share, that share is appraised at a fair market value and the rest of the slave is freed for that amount. According to Mālik, full emancipation takes effect only by judicial decree, and among the people of Medina are those who