In the name of Allah. May Allah bless our master Muḥammad and his family.

Book of the Mudabbar
Chapter: The Mudabbar

A mudabbar is a slave whose master declares, “You are free after my death,” or “You are manumitted when I die,” or “You are emancipated at my passing.” All such formulas establish tadbīr (post-mortem manumission). Once a master has placed his slave under tadbīr, he may neither sell him, give him away, nor retract the arrangement, whether or not he later incurs a debt—provided that the debt arose after the tadbīr. If, however, the master was indebted before pronouncing the tadbīr and owns no other property, the tadbīr is nullified and the creditors have the superior claim to the slave. This is the ruling during the master’s lifetime.

After the master’s death, the ruling is that the slave is freed from the one-third of the estate that the deceased may dispose of. If the estate cannot cover more than that, one-third of the slave is emancipated and two-thirds remain in bondage. Should the master die while still owing a debt, the creditors have priority over the mudabbar in every instance, whether their debt predates the tadbīr or was incurred afterwards.