Hadith 27421

Malik said, "The generally agreed-on way of doing things in ourcommunity is that any setting-free which a man makes in a bequest thathe wills in health or illness can be rescinded by him when he likesand changed when he likes as long as it is not a tadbir. There is noway to rescind a tadbir once he has made it."As for everychild born to him by a slave-girl who he wills to be set free but hedoes not make mudabbara, her children are not freed with her when sheis freed. That is because her master can change his will when he likesand rescind it when he likes, and being set free is not confirmed forher. She is in the position of a slave-girl whose master says, 'If so-and-so remains with me until I die, she is free.' " (i.e. he does notmake a definite contract.)Malik said, "If she fulfils that,that is hers. If he wishes, before that, he can sell her and her childbecause he has not entered her child into any condition he has madefor her."The bequest in setting free is different from thetadbir. The precedent of the sunna makes a distinction between them.Had a bequest been in the position of a tadbir, no testator would beable to change his will and what he mentioned in it of setting free.His property would be tied up and he would not be able to use it."Malik said about a man who made all his slaves mudabbar whilehe was well and they were his only property, "If he made some of themmudabbar before the others, one begins with the first until the thirdof his property is reached. (i.e. their value is matched against thethird, and those whose value is covered are free.) If he makes themall mudabbar in his illness, and says in one statement, 'So-and-so isfree. So-and-so is free. So-and-so is free if my death occurs in thisillness,' or he makes them all mudabbar in one statement, they arematched against the third and one does not begin with any of thembefore the others. It is a bequest and they have a third of hisproperty divided between them in shares. Then the third of hisproperty frees each of them according to the extent of his share."No single one of them is given preference when that all occurs inhis illness."Malik spoke about a master who made his slave amudabbar and then he died and the only property he had was themudabbar slave and the slave had property. He said, "A third of themudabbar is freed and his property remains in his possession."Malik said about a mudabbar whose master gave him a kitaba andthen the master died and did not leave any property other than him, "Athird of him is freed and a third of his kitaba is reduced, and heowes two-thirds."Malik spoke about a man who freed half ofhis slave while he was ill and made irrevocable his freeing half ofhim or all of him, and he had made another slave of his mudabbarbefore that. He said, "One begins with the slave he made mudabbarbefore the one he freed while he was ill. That is because the mancannot revoke what he has made mudabbar and cannot follow it with amatter which will rescind it. When this mudabbar is freed, then whatremains of the third goes to the one who had half of him freed so asto complete his setting-free entirely in the third of the property ofthe deceased. If what is left of the third does not cover that,whatever is covered by what is left of the third is freed after thefirst mudabbar is freed . "