What is the ruling if a dower stipulated as one slave is found to be half free or half usurped property?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Dowry (Mahr)
Primary text
If the stipulated dower is a single slave, and half of him is found to be free or usurped property, the wife has the choice: either to return (cancel the contract regarding) the defective slave and take his full monetary value, or to keep the intact half and take the monetary value of the remaining defective half. This option is explicitly stated by Ahmad. This is analogous to finding the stipulated item defective, granting the right to dissolution (fasakh).
Supporting text
The alternative view, held by Abu Hanifa, suggests that if two slaves were stipulated and one is free, the wife receives the remaining whole slave as the dower, and nothing more. This is rejected on the basis that the naming of the free slave as dower is not entirely nullified, just as it would not be if he were stipulated individually.