Does freeing half of a jointly owned slave for an expiation (kaffarah) count as fulfilling the obligation if the owner is wealthy and the other half is transferred via emanation (sarayan)?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Expiations
Primary text
If a person owns half a slave and frees their share for an expiation, the entire slave is freed if the owner is wealthy enough to compensate for the remaining half. However, this act does not fulfill the entire expiation obligation according to Abu Bakr al-Khallal, his companion, and this view is narrated from Ahmad, and it is also the view of Abu Hanifah. The rationale is that freeing the partner's share did not occur through the emancipator's direct act but through emanation (sarayan), which is a consequence of the act, similar to buying someone upon whom an obligatory manumission falls with the intention of kaffarah. The emancipator only directly freed his own share; the rest is freed via emanation. It is argued that if the emancipator had specifically intended to free only the partner's share, nothing would have been freed, as he only owns the right to free his own half, not the partner's half.
Supporting text
Al-Qadi stated that other scholars among our companions hold that if the owner intends for the manumission of the entire slave to cover the expiation, it suffices. This is the view of Al-Shafi'i, based on the fact that a complete, sound slave, not already designated for manumission, was freed with the intention of kaffarah, which is sufficient as if the entire slave were owned by him. However, the first opinion is deemed sounder, as the individual only freed half, and the other half became incumbent upon him via emanation, making it analogous to purchasing a relative.