What is the legal consequence if the owner frees the slave during the term of the service agreement?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Settlement
Primary text
If the owner frees the slave during the service term, the manumission ('itq') takes effect immediately because the slave is owned property, and a sale of the slave is valid, so freeing him is also valid for another party. The party who made the settlement retains the right to the slave's service for the remainder of the term. This is because the manumission occurred after the right to the usufruct was granted to another, similar to when a man frees a married female slave. The freed slave receives no compensation from his former master because the ownership of the usufruct had already been transferred away, so no benefit was lost to the master due to the manumission.
Supporting text
The Judge and Ibn 'Aqil mention an alternative view stating that the freed slave may claim compensation from his master equivalent to the fair rental value of the service. This view is also attributed to Al-Shafi'i, arguing that manumission implies the removal of ownership over both the corpus and the usufruct, and since the usufruct was not transferred to the slave, it is as if the master prevented the slave from enjoying his benefit.