Whose testimony is accepted regarding the birth status of children conceived by an enslaved person designated for manumission (Mudabbara)?

Primary text

When a Mudabbara (a female slave designated to be free upon her master's death) and the master's heirs dispute when her children were born, and the Mudabbara claims she gave birth to them after her manumission decree (allowing them to be free with her), while the heirs claim the birth occurred before her manumission (meaning they remain slaves to the heirs), the assertion of the heirs is accepted, provided they take an oath. This is because the fundamental legal presumption (*Al-Asl*) is the continuation of their enslavement and the negation of their freedom. In the absence of conclusive evidence (*bayyinah*), the statement supported by the presumption of law prevails.