What is the ruling on the dower and children if a female who confesses to being a slave married and the confession is accepted?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Foundlings
Primary text
If the alleged slave is a female, the marriage is valid concerning her husband. If this occurred before consummation, she has no dower because she admits the invalidity of her marriage and that she is a slave who married without her master's consent, and no dower is due in an invalid marriage except upon consummation. If consummation occurred, her dower is not forfeited. Her master is due the lesser of the stipulated dower or the dower equivalent to a slave married without permission. This is because if the stipulated amount is lesser, the husband denies the obligation of the excess, and her statement is not accepted against him. If the lesser amount is the dower equivalent, then she and her master both affirm the marriage's invalidity, and the equivalent dower is due, and nothing more, unless the narration dictates the stipulated dower is due in an invalid marriage, in which case the stipulated amount, whether small or large, is obligatory due to the husband's admission of its necessity. Her children are free, and their value is not due because it would require accepting her statement to establish a right against another party, and slavery is not established for her children based on her admission.
Supporting text
Regarding the continuation of the marriage, the husband is told: It is established that she is a slave and her children are slaves to her master. If you choose to remain under these conditions, remain; if you wish, separate from her. This applies whether or not he is permitted to marry female slaves, because if that condition were considered and the marriage nullified, it would constitute nullifying the entire contract based on her statement, as the conditions for a slave's marriage are considered at its inception, not its continuation. If it is argued that her statement establishing her status as a slave in the future was accepted despite the harm to the husband, the response is that her statement was not accepted to impose a right that was not part of the original contract. The future ruling allows for fulfilling his right and the right of the one to whom the slavery is proven by divorce, in which case what was not entered into is not incumbent, or by continuing the marriage, in which case the master's right is not nullified.