What is the legal status and lineage affiliation (Wala') of children born to a man who is a slave married to a freedwoman?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Walā' (Patronage)
Primary text
If a slave marries a freedwoman and fathers children with her, those children are legally free. Their allegiance (Wala') follows the patrons (Mawali) of their mother (the freedwoman). This ruling is the position of the majority of jurists, including Malik among the people of Medina, Abu Hanifa among the people of Iraq, and Al-Shafi'i. If one of these free sons purchases his father (the original slave) and frees him, the patron lineage transfers to the purchasing son, and he inherits the Wala' of all his siblings through this lineage. However, the purchasing son's Wala' remains tied to the patron of his mother because a person cannot be his own patron.
Supporting text
Amr ibn Dinar Al-Madani held a dissenting view, stating that the son inherits his own Wala' (through self-emancipation), resulting in him being free without any established patron lineage. This view is disregarded due to its rarity and because it implies a situation where allegiance is fixed upon the parents but not the child, despite the child being born during the parents' servitude, which contradicts established legal principles concerning self-patronage.