Chapter on Conditional Manumission and Manumission Sworn by Oath
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If a man sets a female slave free on the condition that her emancipation serve as her bridal dower, such a stipulation is invalid according to Mālik and his colleagues, yet the act of manumission itself stands and she is free.
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Whoever declares his slave free at a definite future date—one certain to arrive, such as “at the end of the month” or “after one year”—does not actually free him until that moment comes. Should the master die beforehand, the slave is emancipated from the principal estate, not merely from the disposable third.
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The same applies if he says, “You are free upon the death of so-and-so,” and that person indeed dies: the slave is set free against the estate in full.
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If the slave in question is a female slave, the owner may not have sexual relations with her, for intercourse with a woman whose freedom has been deferred to a future term is unlawful. In Mālik’s view and that of the majority of his companions, she is not treated like a mudabbara.
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The owner may take from the property of a slave whose manumission is deferred whatever he wishes, so long as the appointed time has not drawn near.
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If the slave whose freedom is delayed owns a pregnant female slave and she gives birth at any time from the day her emancipation was pronounced up to more than six months thereafter, the child is considered never to have been in bondage. Should she deliver in less than six months from the day the child’s father was emancipated, the child’s right of allegiance (walāʾ) belongs to the emancipator of the father.
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If a man says to his slave, “When my father arrives, you are free,” Abū ʾl-Qāsim holds that the owner may sell the slave before the father’s arrival, whereas Mālik voiced hesitation on the point.
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Should he declare, “Every slave I own from such-and-such a town, or of such-and-such a category, or whom I acquire within such-and-such a period, or for as long as he ordinarily remains alive, is free,” he is bound by his words.
• If his statement embraces the entire town in unrestricted terms, he is not liable for anyone he may acquire thereafter.
• The phrase “from the town” covers every slave he acquires by purchase, gift, inheritance, or any other means of ownership. -
If he says, “Every slave I buy is free,” the obligation applies only to those he actually purchases or to those he receives in exchange for something given as a counter-gift. Ownership extends as well to fractional shares in a slave and to their offspring, provided they are within his possession.
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Were he to declare, “Every slave of mine is free,” the manumission would encompass all his male and female slaves, his mudabbars, his contractual slaves (mukātabs), and anyone else under his ownership at that moment.
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And if a man assigns his slave to serve