Chapter on Freeing Slaves (Itq)

The freeing of slaves (itq or 'atq) is among the most highly praised and abundantly rewarded acts in Islamic law and ethics. While the institution of slavery existed in the Arabian Peninsula and much of the world at the time of Islam's revelation, the Quran and Sunnah implemented a systematic and theologically grounded program to reduce and ultimately eliminate slavery through encouragement of manumission, restriction of the means of enslavement, and the elevation of freed persons' status. Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani addresses the rulings of emancipation in the Maliki school as part of the comprehensive treatment of personal status law in the Risalah.

Itq (manumission) is a legal act by which a slave owner declares his slave free, immediately and irrevocably. The Maliki school holds that manumission is one of the best deeds a Muslim can perform, citing the hadith: 'Whoever frees a Muslim slave, Allah will free each of his limbs from hellfire in return for each of the slave's limbs.' The emancipation takes effect immediately upon pronouncement, and the owner may not revoke it. The freed slave becomes a full free person (hurr) with all the rights and obligations of a free citizen.

The forms of manumission recognized in the Maliki school are: outright manumission (itq munjaz) — immediate and unconditional; manumission by will (itq bi-wasiyyah) — taking effect upon the owner's death from the one-third estate rule; kitabah (written contract of freedom) — where the slave agrees to pay a sum over time and is freed upon completing payment; and umm al-walad — the slave woman who bears her owner's child, who automatically becomes free upon the owner's death. The tadbir (manumission deferred to the owner's death by declaration) is also recognized.

Kitabah deserves special attention. In a kitabah contract, the slave agrees to pay his owner an agreed sum in installments, and upon completing payment, he is free. The Quran encourages kitabah: 'And if those whom your right hands possess seek a contract of emancipation, then make such a contract with them if you know there is within them goodness' (al-Nur: 33). The Maliki school holds that kitabah is a strongly recommended act (sunnah mu'akkadah) for the owner when the slave requests it and is capable. Once the kitabah contract is signed, the slave is in a state of partial freedom (mukatab) — he earns his own income, manages his own affairs, but has not yet become fully free.

In Islamic law, manumission is also prescribed as kaffarah (expiation) for specific offenses: intentional killing requires freeing a slave as the first option of expiation; zihar requires freeing a slave; violating an oath may be expiated by freeing a slave. In these cases, the slave freed must be a Muslim or able to grow into Islam, and must be free of major disabling defects. This use of manumission as expiation further incentivized the gradual disappearance of slavery in Muslim societies.

The freed slave (mawla) has a relationship of wala' with the former owner. This is a bond of loyalty, patronage, and mutual support. In classical law, wala' creates a residual inheritance right: if the freed slave dies without heirs, the estate goes to the former owner (as patron). This bond is lifelong and may not be transferred or sold. The Prophet said: 'Wala' belongs to the one who freed.'