What is the ruling when a terminally ill person, who owns no other property, gifts a slave who subsequently kills the donor?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Bequests
Primary text
When a slave gifted by a dying person who owned no other property kills the donor, the recipient of the gift is given the choice to either redeem the slave or surrender him. If the recipient chooses surrender, the entirety of the slave must be handed over, with half of the slave’s value attributed to the liability (jinaayah) and the other half due to the partial nullification of the gift. This is because the slave entirely passes to the donor's heirs, who are entitled to half of him, revealing that the gift was valid only for half the slave. If the recipient chooses to redeem the slave, there are two differing narrations. The first states that the redemption amount is the lesser of two values: the value of the slave’s half share or the amount of the injury's liability (arsh). The second narration states that the redemption is based solely on the amount of the injury's liability, regardless of how high it reaches.