What happens if the specified time for conditional manumission arrives while the slave is no longer in the master's ownership?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Manumission
Primary text
If the specified time arrives while the slave remains under the ownership of the original master, the slave is freed without dispute. This view is held by Abu Hanifa and Ash-Shafi'i. If the slave has passed out of the master's ownership through sale, inheritance, or gift before the time arrives, the manumission does not take effect.
Supporting text
An opposing view held by An-Nakha'i and Ibn Abi Laila states that if a master tells his slave, 'If you do such-and-such, you are free,' and then sells him in a valid sale, and the slave subsequently performs the stipulated act, the manumission occurs, and the sale is nullified. This is argued by analogy to conditional divorce. However, the general body of scholars opposes this view based on the principle that divorce, manumission, and sale cannot take place concerning what a man does not own, implying that since the master no longer possesses the slave, the potential manumission cannot be actualized.