One who frees his share in a jointly owned slave while he is in hardship

Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) says that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever frees his share in a slave and has with him the amount of the slave's price, a fair value shall be fixed, the partners shall be given their shares and the slave shall be free; otherwise, only as much shall be freed as has been freed?" He said: "Yes."

Al-Rabi' says: Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) said to someone debating with him: Is there any room for debate once the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) is established, in the hadith of Nafi' from Ibn Umar, that having the slave work to pay off his remaining value (istis'a') is dropped? He said: We say that Ayyub said: Sometimes Nafi' said, "then as much of him is freed as was freed," and sometimes he did not say it; and he said: My strongest belief is that it was something Nafi' used to say from his own opinion. Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I said to him: I do not think anyone who knows hadith and its narrators doubts that Malik preserved the hadith of Nafi' better than Ayyub, because he kept closer company with him than Ayyub did, and Malik has a special excellence in preserving the hadith of his own teachers in particular. Even if the two were equal in memory, and one of them doubted something the other did not doubt, that would be no ground for declaring the one who did not doubt mistaken. A man is only declared mistaken when someone with a better memory contradicts him, or when he brings something in a hadith that others share with him who did not preserve from it what he preserved, they being many and he alone. Others have agreed with Malik on the addition: "otherwise, as much of him is freed as was freed." And some of them added to it: "and as much of him remains a slave as remains enslaved."
Al-Shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him) said: As for the hadith of Ayyub, we have mentioned it earlier.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): "Whoever frees his share in a slave and has wealth equal to the slave's price, a fair value shall be fixed and that slave shall be set free." The narrator said: Is this (part of) the hadith or Nafi's statement: "Otherwise, as much as he freed will be freed"?
Both recorded it this way, and it clearly shows that he was in doubt about it, whereas Malik bin Anas (may Allah have mercy on him) established it as part of the hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); so the ruling goes with Malik, not with him. As for the excellence of Malik's memory, it is, according to the body of hadith scholars, just as al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) said.

Ali bin al-Madini (may Allah have mercy on him) says: Abd al-Rahman bin Mahdi would not place anyone above Malik.

Uthman bin Sa'id al-Darimi (may Allah have mercy on him) says: I said to Yahya bin Ma'in: "Who is dearer to you regarding (the narrations of) Nafi': Malik or Ubaydullah bin Umar?" He said: "Malik." I said: "And Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani?" He said: "Malik."

Al-Maymuni (may Allah have mercy on him) says: I heard Yahya bin Ma'in and Ahmad bin Hanbal both saying: "Malik was among the most reliable of people in his hadith." Ahmad bin Hanbal said: O Abu al-Hasan, do not worry if you do not ask about a man from whom Malik has narrated, especially if he is a Madinan.

Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani says: Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) had a study circle during the lifetime of Nafi'.

Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) says: Yahya bin Sa'id said to me: Select and write down for me one hundred hadith of Ibn Shihab; and he gave me an old parchment that had turned yellow. I wrote those hadith for him until I had filled it, and wrote them clearly. Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) said: There are very few people from whom I learned knowledge who did not, before they died, come to me and seek a fatwa from me.

Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever frees his share in a slave, it is his responsibility to free the whole slave if he has wealth equal to his price; otherwise, only as much is freed as he has freed."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) says that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever frees his share in a slave, it is his responsibility to free him completely if he has wealth; and if he has no wealth, then only as much will be freed as he freed."
(b) In the hadith of Abu Bakr and Uthman it says: "It is his responsibility to free him completely if he has wealth; if he has no wealth, a fair value shall be assessed, that is, on the part of the one who freed, as much has become free as he freed."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) says that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever frees his share in a slave and also has the wealth, a fair value shall be fixed; otherwise, only as much is freed as he has freed."

Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) says that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever frees his share in a slave, a fair value shall be fixed, he shall give it to his partners and the slave shall be free, if he is wealthy; otherwise, as much is free as was freed, and the rest shall remain a slave."

Sayyiduna Imran bin Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him) says: A man freed his six slaves at the time of his death, and he had no other wealth. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) summoned them and divided them into three parts, then drew lots among them; the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) freed two and kept four as slaves, and he spoke severely about that man.