Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab, and he had heardfrom al-Qasim ibn Muhammad that they said, "When a free man marries aslave-girl and consummates the marriage, she makes him muhsan."Malik said, "All (of the people of knowledge) I have seen saidthat a slave-girl makes a free man muhsan when he marries her andconsummates the marriage."Malik said, "A slave makes a freewoman muhsana when he consummates a marriage with her and a free womanonly makes a slave muhsan when he is freed and he is her husband andhas had sexual relations with her after he has been set free. If heparts from her before he is free, he is not a muhsan unless he marriesher after having been set free and he consummates the marriage."Malik said, "When a slave-girl is married to a free man and thenhe separates from her before she is set free, his marriage to her doesnot make her muhsana. She is not muhsana until she has married aftershe has been set free and she has had intercourse with her husband.That gives her ihsan. If she is the wife of a freeman and then she isset free while she is his wife before he separates from her, the manmakes her muhsana if he has intercourse with her after she has beenset free."Malik said, "The christian and jewish free womenand the muslim slave-girl all make a muslim free man muhsan when hemarries one of them and has intercourse with her."
USC-MSA web (English) reference: Book 28, Hadith 40
Arabic reference: Book 28, Hadith 1135