Muwatta Imam Malik (Riwayat Yahya)

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said: In our view, this ruling is agreed upon that a mudabbar (a slave set free after the master's death) should not be sold by the master, nor should his ownership be transferred in any way. And if the master becomes indebted, the creditors cannot sell the mudabbar as long as the master is alive. If the master dies and is not in debt, then the entire mudabbar will be freed from one third of the estate, because if he is freed from the entire estate, then it is entirely to the benefit of the master, as he took service from him all his life and then earned the reward of freeing him at the time of death, and it is a complete loss for the heirs. If the master has no wealth except this mudabbar, then one third of the mudabbar will be freed and two thirds will be the right of the heirs. If the master of the mudabbar dies and is so indebted that the debt equals or exceeds the full value of the mudabbar, then the mudabbar will be sold, because the mudabbar is only freed when there is room in one third of the estate. If the debt equals half the value of the slave, then half of the mudabbar will be sold to pay the debt, and of the remaining half, one third will be freed.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that it is not permissible to sell a mudabbar, nor is it permissible for anyone to buy him, except that the mudabbar can purchase himself from his master; this is permissible. And it is also permissible that a person gives some wealth to the master of the mudabbar so that he may free his mudabbar, but the wala’ will go to the master who made him a mudabbar.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that it is not permissible to sell the service of a mudabbar slave, because there is deception in it; it is not known how long the master will live, and for this reason, the sale of the service remains unknown. And according to Imam Abu Hanifa, may Allah have mercy on him, the sale of the service of a mudabbar slave is permissible, because Darqutni has narrated with a marfu’ chain that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, sold the service of a mudabbar slave, but the hadith is weak both in mursal and musnad forms.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that if a slave is jointly owned by two people and one of them declares his share as Mudabbar, then the value of the slave will be assessed. If the person who made the Mudabbar declaration buys the other partner's share as well, then the entire slave will become Mudabbar. If he does not buy it, then his declaration of Mudabbar will become void, except in the case where the one who did not make the Mudabbar declaration agrees to take the price from his partner, and takes the price, then the slave will become Mudabbar.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that if a Christian makes his Christian slave a mudabbar, and afterwards the slave becomes Muslim, then he will be separated from the mawla, meaning he will not remain in the service of the mawla, because it is not appropriate for a Muslim to serve a disbeliever, so he will be separated from the mawla. And on behalf of the mawla, a certain amount will be fixed upon the slave in exchange for service, which he will pay to the mawla, but he will not be sold until the condition of the mawla is known. If the Christian mawla dies in debt, then the mudabbar will be sold and his debt will be paid, but if there is enough wealth that after paying the debt something remains, then whatever remains after the debt, the mudabbar will be freed from that one-third.