any offense, the liability for that offense rests upon his person. His master may, if he wishes, surrender him in settlement of it, or he may choose to ransom him by paying the indemnity. If the master does hand him over, the slave serves the injured party in lieu of the indemnity, and the latter sets that service off against the blood-money for the wound—so long as the value of the service fully covers the indemnity. If the master is still alive, the slave then returns to him and remains a mudabbar as before.
Should the master die and leave other property, the slave is freed out of one-third of the estate, and the injured party may pursue him for whatever balance of the blood-money remains a debt upon him; some jurists, however, hold that he owes nothing of the indemnity. If the master leaves no asset apart from the slave himself, one third of the slave is emancipated while two thirds remain enslaved; one third of the outstanding indemnity becomes a debt incumbent upon him, and the remaining two thirds stay attached to his person. The heirs are then free either to surrender him or to ransom him by paying two thirds of the indemnity for his offense. Another opinion maintains that, if the master leaves no property, the slave reverts to full bondage and is sold to satisfy the claim arising from the injury.
When the master dies owing debts, the claim for the injury is met first and the debts thereafter; if any surplus remains, one third of the slave is emancipated. If he injures two people, they share his service in proportion to their claims. A different view gives the first injured party the choice either to ransom him or to accept him; if he ransoms him, he alone benefits from his service, but if he accepts him, his right to that service is extinguished.
If the mudabbar injures his own master, the service that was due under tadbīr is cancelled; instead, he serves the master on account of the injury, the value of that service being deducted from the indemnity. This is the opinion of Ibn al-Qāsim, while others say that he owes his master no indemnity at all.
When the mudabbar belonging to a Christian owner embraces Islam, the owner is required to maintain him, and the proceeds of leasing him out (kharāj) are handed over to the owner. The slave is not to be sold; when the owner dies he is freed from one-third of the estate.
Anyone who places a slave under tadbīr and then kills or wounds him incurs no liability for indemnity or blood-money, because the victim is a slave. If the mudabbar intentionally kills his master, the tadbīr is nullified; if he kills him by mistake, it is not.
If a master reaches a financial settlement with his mudabbar, imposing on him a specified sum and promising him emancipation