to me, is that she has one night out of eight, so that it is half of what the free woman has. For the free woman’s right out of every eight is two nights, and she has no more than that. If the slave-woman were to have one night out of seven, it would exceed the half, and there would not be two nights for the free woman and one night for the slave-woman. And because when he has three free women and one slave-woman under his authority, and he does not wish to increase them beyond their due right, he divides seven [nights] among them. So what does he do with the eighth night? If we obligate him to spend it with a free woman, he has increased her beyond what is due to her, and if he spends it with the slave-woman, he makes her like a free woman, which is not possible. According to what I have chosen (22), this eighth night belongs to him; if he wishes, he may be alone, and if he wishes, he may spend it with the first one, starting the division anew. If he has (23) one free woman and one slave-woman, he divides for them three nights out of eight, and he may be alone for five. If he has two free women and one slave-woman, they have five and he has three. If he has two free women and two slave-women, they have six and he has two (24). If there is one slave-woman, she has one night and he has six, and according to their view, she has one night and he has six.

Section: Intercourse (al-wat') is obligatory upon the man if he has no (23) excuse. Malik held this view as well. According to the Qadi, it is not obligatory unless he neglects it to cause harm. Al-Shafi'i said: It is not obligatory upon him because it is his own right, so it is not binding upon him, like his other rights. As for us, we rely on what preceded in the previous section, and in some narrations of the hadith of Ka'b, it is stated that when he judged between the man and his wife, he said:

'She has a right upon you, O husband, To have intercourse with her once in four, if you are fair, So give her that and put aside your excuses.'

'Umar deemed his judgment excellent and was pleased with it. Furthermore, it is a right that is obligatory by consensus when (25) he takes an oath to abandon it, so it is obligatory before he takes the oath, like other obligatory rights. This is confirmed by the fact that if it were not...