a free-woman in addition to a slave-woman, and a slave-woman in addition to a free-woman; in this matter the slave differs from the free man.
No master is under any categorical obligation to marry off his male or female slave. A marriage contracted by a male or female slave is not valid without the permission of their owner, nor is it valid for anyone who still carries any trace of servitude.
If a woman is half-free and half-slave, her master may not marry her without her consent, because intercourse with her is not otherwise lawful to him; should he do so, any child born to her takes the same legal status she has.
Malik said: It is impermissible for a man to marry his male slave to a slave-woman without a dower and two witnesses, and I do not deem it lawful for the slave to consummate the marriage until he has handed over the minimum that renders her lawful to him, namely one quarter of a dinar.
When a slave marries without his master’s permission, the marriage remains suspended pending the master’s ratification: if he approves, it stands; if he rejects, it is annulled. If consummation has already taken place, the wife receives from the dower only the portion that made intercourse lawful, while the master takes the balance; alternatively, she may claim that remainder from the slave as a debt to be paid once he is emancipated.
Whether the bride knew he was a slave or not, whether she was deceived or not, the master may in every case take the dower from her. However, if she was deceived, she may pursue the slave—after his manumission—for whatever the master has taken, unless the master himself dissolves the marriage, in which case she has no claim against him.
If the master annuls a marriage his slave contracted without permission, the annulment counts as a divorce. According to Malik, any divorce the slave himself pronounced before the annulment is effective; if he pronounced more than a single divorce, all of them take effect. Others have said that only one pronouncement is binding.
Should the master emancipate the slave before learning of the marriage, the marriage is valid—this is Malik’s view, though another opinion holds it invalid.
If the master gives his slave leave to marry, the slave may lawfully contract the marriage on his own behalf. By contrast, a female slave who marries without her owner’s permission contracts an invalid marriage, whether or not the owner later approves it, for a male slave—once authorised—may contract for himself, whereas a female slave may contract neither for herself nor for anyone else when she is the one who personally conducts the contract.