What is the ruling when a master absolves his contracted slave (*mukatab*) of the required payment amount for manumission?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Dowry (Mahr)
Primary text
If a master contracts a slave for manumission and then forgives the required payment amount from the *mukatab*, the slave becomes free (*'atiq*). The master has no recourse to claim from the slave the portion the master was obliged to grant him (if applicable). Similarly, if the master forgives the portion the slave was obligated to pay to the master and the slave pays the remainder, the master is not required to give the slave anything further, as the master's forgiveness stands in place of the granting/payment.
Supporting text
Some of our colleagues base this issue upon the two established narrations concerning the dower, analogous to the first issue. However, this view is invalid because the wife's act of forgiving the dower occurs before the cause for the husband's liability for half the dower arises upon divorce. In contrast, here the master forgives the *mukatab* what the condition for the master's granting had been established, making the forgiveness equivalent to the granting. If the master had received the amount from the slave and then granted it, the slave would not reclaim anything. Conversely, if the wife receives her dower and gifts it to her husband, and they divorce before consummation, she would have a claim against him.