Is it permissible for a *Mukatab* to pay a portion of his agreed manumission price early in exchange for the master forgiving a portion of the remaining debt?

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This transaction is permissible. This view is held by Ta'us, Al-Zuhri, Al-Nakh'i, and Abu Hanifah. The justification is that the writing fee (*mal al-kitabah*) is not a fixed debt; the slave is not compelled to pay it, can refuse payment, and it cannot be guaranteed by a surety. Payments made are the slave's earnings. The Law established this contract as a means to manumission, stipulating delay for the sake of achieving manumission and ease for the *Mukatab*. If accelerating payment results in reducing the remaining obligation, it better achieves manumission and eases the burden. This differs from other debts because of the nature of the *kitabah*, and it differs from transactions between strangers because the relationship is master-slave, resembling the status of an absolute slave (*qinn*). The resulting early freedom is a reduction of debt, contrasting with pre-Islamic usury (*riba al-jahiliyyah*) which involves an increase in debt for extension of time.