2 – When someone frees his own share of a slave, that share is immediately emancipated; if he is solvent, his partner’s share is also freed. The partner’s portion is then appraised at a fair price and the emancipator pays that amount to his partner.

3 – If the one who set his share free is insolvent, his partner’s share does not become free. Some jurists hold, however, that it is freed and that the slave must work to repay its value; the differing opinions will be discussed below.

4 – Should the emancipator later acquire part of the price of his partner’s share, manumission extends in proportion to the amount he is able to pay.

5 – These rulings reflect the Lawgiver’s eagerness to liberate those in bondage, for He allowed manumission to spread and take effect in this decisive manner.

Hadith 2

Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

“Whoever frees his share of a slave must complete the slave’s release entirely from his own wealth. If he has no wealth, the slave is valued at a just market price, after which the slave works to repay that amount without being overburdened.”

Points Derived from the Hadith

Although the meaning of this hadith is essentially the same as the previous one, it adds the provision that the slave is to work off the price when the emancipator is insolvent. In summary:

1 – If a person frees his share of a jointly owned slave and possesses enough wealth to cover the slave’s full price, the entire slave is emancipated and he pays his partner the value of his share.

2 – If he has no wealth, the slave is still completely freed, and the slave is asked to work in order to provide the partner who did not free his share with its value. The slave is not subjected to undue hardship; experts gauge what he can reasonably manage.

3 – Taken at face value, this hadith and the one before it appear to differ over whether the whole slave is freed when the emancipator is insolvent and the slave must earn the price.

Reconciling the Two Hadiths

The first hadith, on its surface, indicates that when someone frees his share of a jointly owned slave, only his share is emancipated. If he is solvent, the rest of the slave is also freed and he reimburses his partner; if he is insolvent, the partner’s share remains in bondage and the slave becomes part-free, part-enslaved.

The second hadith, however, implies that if the emancipator is insolvent, the entire slave is nevertheless freed, but the slave must work to pay the value of the partner’s share.

Those who adhere to the outward sense of the first report include the imams Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and (in his well-known view) Aḥmad, as well as the Ẓāhirīs. Their evidence is the explicit wording of the first hadith, and they regard the extra clause in the second—“If he has no wealth, the slave is appraised at a just price, then the slave works to repay it without hardship”—as an interpolated addition (mudraj) stemming from Qatādah’s legal opinion rather than from the Prophet’s words.