What is the legal status of a Mukatab (contracted slave) who has not paid the full stipulated amount for his manumission?
Chapter on Distant Kindred (Dhawu al-Arham)
Al-Mughni
Book of Inheritance Shares (Farā'id)
Primary text
If the Mukatab does not possess enough wealth to pay the remaining amount of his contract, he remains a slave. Consequently, he neither inherits nor is he inherited from. This opinion is narrated from Umar, Zayd ibn Thabit, Ibn Umar, Aisha, Umm Salamah, Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, Al-Shafi'i, and Abu Thawr. The evidence for this is the statement of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: 'The Mukatab is a slave as long as one dirham remains on him.' Another narration states: 'Any slave who contracts for one hundred ounces, and pays all but ten, is a slave; and any slave who contracts for one hundred dinars, and pays all but ten, is a slave.' Further support is found in the tradition where the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said to Attab ibn Asid: 'Whoever contracts a Mukatab, he has the greatest right over him until he fulfills his contract.'
Supporting text
A view held by Al-Qadi and Abu Al-Khattab suggests that if the Mukatab pays three-fourths of his contract and is unable to pay the remaining quarter, he is manumitted. This is because the remaining debt is considered something owed to the slave's benefit, and it is not permissible to keep him in slavery due to inability to pay what must be returned to him.