Is sexual intercourse permissible with a female slave who has an agreement for manumission (mukātibah)?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Mukātaba (Contractual Manumission)
Primary text
Sexual intercourse with a female slave who is under a contract of manumission (mukātibah) is prohibited for her master. If the master engages in intercourse, he incurs sin and is subject to disciplinary punishment (ta'zīr), but no fixed legal punishment (hadd) is applied due to the semblance of ownership (shubhat al-milk). The child born from this union is considered free, and paternity is legally established, because the fixed punishment was waived due to the semblance of ownership.
Supporting text
The slave woman becomes an Umm Walad (mother of his child) to him. The master is liable to pay her value to her original owner because his act of intercourse removed her from the original owner's full possession. However, there is a differing opinion regarding the liability for the child's value; one view holds that the master does not owe the value because the child was born into his possession, while another possibility suggests he owes the value because his act of intercourse removed the child from being owned by her master, resembling the case of a child born from a misled party.