If an enslaved woman is purchased by a man's *mukatab* (manumitted by installments), and then she comes into the master's possession, is *istibra'* required for the master?

General Chapter

Al-Mughni

Book of Waiting Periods ('Iddah)

Book 44 · Issue 9 · Bab 1

Open in Qurani

Primary text

If the master's *mukatab* purchases an enslaved woman and performs *istibra'*, the master must perform a new *istibra'*, because the master's ownership over the *mukatab*'s property is newly established, as the master has no inherent ownership over what the *mukatab* possesses. However, if the enslaved woman is a relative forbidden to the *mukatab* by kinship, the majority view is that she becomes permissible to the master without *istibra'*, because her legal status follows that of the *mukatab* (if he becomes a full slave, she does; if he gains freedom, she does too, as the *mukatab* is a slave until the final installment is paid).