What is the ruling on the completion of freedom when a master dedicates a portion of a slave (tadbir) while owning the whole slave?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Manumission
Primary text
If a master dedicates a portion of his slave, such as stating, 'When I die, half of my slave is free,' and then dies, if the dedicated half is exactly one-third of his estate without excess, that half is freed, and the freedom does not spread to the other half. This is because if he had dedicated the entire slave, only a third would have been freed, so dedicating only a third mandates the freeing of only that portion.
Supporting text
If the entire slave's value is covered by one-third of the estate, there are two narrations regarding the completion of freedom. One is that freedom is completed. This is the position of most jurists, as Abu Hanifa and his companions view *tadbir* as spreading like manumission, and it is one position of Al-Shafi'i, arguing that freeing part of his slave results in the freeing of the entire slave, similar to freeing him during his life. The second narration states the manumission is not completed because it does not prevent the validity of selling the slave, thus it does not spread, similar to manumission suspended upon a condition.