Chapter: The Mukātab’s Liability for Offences and for Offences Committed Against Him

If an offence is committed against a mukātab for which a monetary indemnity (arsh) is due, that indemnity is collected and held in escrow by a trustworthy person. Should the mukātab complete the payment of his manumission contract, he may then take the indemnity for his injury; if he defaults, the sum is applied toward the unpaid balance of his contract.

When the mukātab himself wounds someone in a way that obligates blood money (ʿaql), then—provided he can afford it—he must pay both the blood money and the remainder of his contract price together; otherwise he is deemed to have defaulted. If he succeeds in paying the indemnity, his contract stands; but if he is unable to do so, that very incapacity counts as incapacity with respect to the contract. At that point the master is given a choice: he may either pay the indemnity on the mukātab’s behalf, in which case the mukātab reverts to full slavery under him, or he may hand the mukātab over to the injured party, in which case the latter becomes the mukātab’s owner.

If two slaves share a single manumission contract and one of them commits an offence or inflicts a wound, the other is told, “Unless you pay the blood money together with your companion, you will join him in his default.” If both are unable to pay, their contract is void. Should they manage to pay the blood money, the contract continues, and the second slave may later recover from his companion whatever he advanced on his behalf. If they fail to pay and default, the master again has a choice: he may settle the blood money himself, whereupon both revert to being his slaves; or he may surrender the offender to the injured party, while the other reverts to slavery under the master. The same ruling applies when more than two slaves are bound by a single contract.