A man who owns two sisters as slaves and has intercourse with both

The uncle of Musa bin Ayyub said: I asked Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him): If a man has two slave-girls who are sisters, may he have intercourse with both of them? He said: No, it is not right to do so; however, he may do so after removing one of them from his ownership. I asked: If he marries one of them to his slave, may he then do so? He said: No, not until he removes one of them from his ownership.

Ibn al-Kawwa asked Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him): May a man combine two sisters? He said: One verse has made it lawful and another has made it forbidden. As for me and my family, we will not do it.

Ibn Sirin said: People provoked Sayyiduna Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) to anger over the matter of two sisters who are slave-girls; he became angry and said: "The camel of any of you is also among what his right hand possesses!"

Makhul was asked: If a man owns two sisters and has had intercourse with one of them, may he have intercourse with the other? He said: No; it is not permissible until he removes the one he has had relations with from his ownership.

Sayyiduna Ammar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Whatever Allah Almighty has forbidden regarding free women, He has also forbidden regarding slave-women, except that a man may keep as many slave-women as he wishes (their number is not fixed).

Sayyiduna Uthman bin Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) was asked: May one have intercourse with two sisters who are slave-girls? He said: One verse of the Book of Allah has made it lawful and another has made it forbidden. As for me, I would not like to do that.

Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) was asked: May one have intercourse with two sisters who are slave-girls? He said: As long as the slave-girl he has had intercourse with remains in his ownership, he may not have intercourse with her sister.

Abd al-Aziz bin Rufay' said: I asked Ibn al-Hanafiyyah: If a man owns two sisters, may he have intercourse with both of them? He said: One verse has made them lawful and another has made them forbidden.

(Abd al-Aziz bin Rufay' said:) Then I came to Sa'id bin al-Musayyib, and he said the same as what Muhammad (Ibn al-Hanafiyyah) had said.

(Abd al-Aziz bin Rufay' said:) Then I asked Ibn Munabbih, and he said: I bear witness that in what Allah revealed to Musa (peace be upon him), whoever combines two sisters is accursed. He said: It did not specify for us whether they were two free women or two slave-women.

(Abd al-Aziz bin Rufay' said:) So I went back to Ibn al-Musayyib and told him, and he said: Allahu Akbar (Allah is the Greatest).

Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) considered this act disliked.

Al-Hasan was asked: If a man owns two sisters and has had intercourse with one of them and then refrained from her, may he have intercourse with the other? He preferred that he should not have intercourse with the other until the one he had relations with has left his ownership.

Al-Hakam and Hammad said: If a man owns two sisters, he should not go near either of them.

Al-Sha'bi and Ibn Sirin said: Apart from the number, the rulings on relations with slave-women and with free women are the same.

Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was asked: If a man owns two sisters and has had intercourse with one of them, may he have intercourse with the other? He said: One verse has made them lawful and another has made them forbidden. However, I neither command it nor forbid it. Then the questioner met Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) at the door and asked him about the same matter, and he said: I forbid you from it, and if I had power over you and you did it, I would punish you.

Al-Qasim bin Muhammad said: A tribe of the Arabs asked Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him): May a man have intercourse with two sisters who are his slave-girls? He gave a fatwa that it is permissible. This reached Sayyiduna Nu'man bin Bashir (may Allah be pleased with him), and he asked Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) about it, and he confirmed the fatwa. At this Sayyiduna Nu'man bin Bashir said: Tell me, if a man owned his own sister as a slave-girl, would it be permissible for him to have intercourse with her? Hearing this, Sayyiduna Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: By Allah, you have opened my eyes. Go to those people and forbid them from doing this; it is not proper for them to do so. Al-Qasim bin Muhammad said: I said: It is only the bond of kinship, whether through manumission or otherwise.