Bayhaqi 11548 — One who usurps a slave girl and sells

It is narrated from Amir al-Sha'bi (may Allah have mercy on him) that a man saw his slave girl with another man, and she had already borne him a child. He established proof that she was his slave girl, and the one who had her also presented proof that he had bought her. Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The owner of the slave girl shall take his slave girl, and the price shall be taken from the seller. Al-Sha'bi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Possession does not hold in something which someone sold while he did not own it. It belongs to its owner, and the buyer shall pursue the seller for what he gave him, and from the seller shall be taken what he was given; nothing extra shall be taken, nor anything else. It is narrated from Shurayh (may Allah have mercy on him): Whoever stipulates possession is a fool. Either abide by what you sold or return what you took; possession is nothing.
The Shaykh said: Sayyiduna Ali's (may Allah be pleased with him) statement that the seller shall be held liable for restitution means the price and the value of the child; this agrees with the later statement and (also) with the hadith which we have narrated from Sayyiduna Samurah bin Jundub (may Allah be pleased with him).