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

Book of the Mukātab (Contracted Slave)
Chapter on the Mukātab

A master is under no legal duty to grant his slave a kitābah (a manumission contract payable in instalments) merely because the slave requests it, just as he is not obliged to sell him—whether to the slave himself or to anyone else—unless he wishes to do so. Most scholars understand the Qur’anic command on this point to be a permission rather than an obligation. According to Mālik and his associates, the “good” (khayr) mentioned in the verse refers to property, whereas others interpret it as trustworthiness and the ability to meet the payments.

Writing a kitābah for a male or female slave who has no craft or manual skill is disliked, yet the contract remains valid. The master may lawfully take possession of whatever alms are given to such slaves, although jurists differ on this, and the various opinions have been set out in Kitāb al-Tamhīd and in al-Iʿtāʾ.