Hadith 27746

Malik related to me that he heard that Urwa ibn az-Zubayr andSulayman ibn Yasar when asked whether the sons of a man, who had akitaba written for himself and his children and then died, worked forthe kitaba of their father or were slaves, said, "They work for thekitaba of their father and they have no reduction at all for the deathof their father."Malik said, "If they are small and unableto work, one does not wait for them to grow up and they are slaves oftheir father's master unless the mukatab has left what will pay theirinstalments for them until they can work. If there is enough to payfor them in what he has left, that is paid for on their behalf andthey are left in their condition until they can work, and then if theypay, they are free. If they cannot do it, they are slaves."Malik spoke about a mukatab who died and left property which was notenough to pay his kitaba, and he also left a child with him in hiskitaba and an umm walad, and the umm walad wanted to work for them. Hesaid, "The money is paid to her if she is trustworthy with it andstrong enough to work. If she is not strong enough to work and nottrustworthy with property, she is not given any of it and she and thechildren of the mukatab revert to being slaves of the master of themukatab."Malik said, "If people are written together in onekitaba and there is no kinship between them, and some of them areincapable and others work until they are all set free, those whoworked can claim from those who were unable, the portion of what theypaid for them because some of them assumed the responsibility forothers."