and take the price, or annul the sale and reclaim the slave.
If the slave kills a free person, he is surrendered to the victim’s heirs, who may either execute him or pardon him. If they pardon him, he is lashed fifty times and becomes their slave. Should his original owner wish to reclaim him after the pardon, he must pay the full diya owed for a free person and may then take back his slave.
The same principle applies if a slave kills another slave. When the master hands the killer over to the master of the slain slave and that master spares his life, the killer’s original owner may, if he wishes, retrieve him—provided he pays the value of the slain slave; he is not liable for the value of the killer. Once the payment is made, the slave returns to him in his former status.
If a man frees his slave after the latter has committed an offense and he was aware of it, he must swear that he did not intend to evade the liability; the emancipation is void, and the slave is delivered to the injured party’s guardian. If the slave owns property, the compensation is taken from it and he is then set free. If the master chooses to ransom him, the slave becomes free in the master’s possession; otherwise, he remains a slave solely to the right-holder of the offense.
Should the master refuse to uphold the emancipation, or claim that he intended to assume the liability himself, the emancipation nevertheless stands and he must pay the assessed compensation. The same ruling applies if the slave is a female whom he subsequently impregnates after the offense.
If she committed the offense while pregnant and later gives birth, she is surrendered together with her child—unless the injured party is a dhimmi; in that case she is not handed over to him but is sold, and her price is given to the dhimmi when her master elects to surrender her.
When an umm walad commits an offense, her master is liable for whichever is less: her market value or the amount of the indemnity. Further discussion of this appears in the chapter on umm walad.
Liability for an offense committed by a mudabbar is met first from any property he holds and then from his personal obligation. If what he possesses does not suffice, he works to discharge the remainder until his master dies; he is then freed from one-third of the estate, and the unpaid balance remains a debt upon him.
Liability incurred by a mukatab is added to his scheduled instalments and takes precedence. If he can pay the entire amount, so be it; otherwise, he is declared insolvent.