What is the ruling on manumission if a master says to his slave, 'If you enter the dwelling, you are free,' then sells the slave, the slave enters the dwelling while owned by the buyer, and then the original master repurchases the slave?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Manumission
Primary text
The transmitted position from Ahmad ibn Hanbal is that manumission does not occur. This ruling is based on the principle that manumission is conditioned upon an event that does not imply repetition. Since the slave entered the dwelling once (while owned by the buyer), the condition/oath is considered resolved, and thus, no manumission occurs upon the subsequent re-entry while in the master's possession.
Supporting text
There is an alternative narration from Ahmad suggesting manumission does occur. This alternative view is supported by a narration concerning divorce, where divorce is effective because the condition and the suspension (of divorce) both occurred during his ownership, resembling the case where no alienation occurred between the declaration and the condition's fulfillment. This is distinguished from manumission because the second marriage is built upon the first, evidenced by the counting of divorce instances, whereas ownership in manumission is not similarly constituted.