if he becomes wealthy. If two convert along with him, then he is manumitted, and then the remaining ones convert, he shall not choose except two; because the right of choice was established for him by the conversion of the first two.

Section: If he marries four women, and they convert and are manumitted before his conversion, they have the right to annul the marriage; because they were manumitted while under a slave. They possess the right of annulment even if they are in the process of becoming definitively separated, because he might convert and thereby interrupt their progression toward definitive separation. Thus, if they annul the marriage and the husband does not convert, they become separated due to the difference in religion from the moment they converted, [and it becomes clear that the annulment was not valid]. If he converts during the waiting period, they are separated due to the annulment of the marriage, and the waiting period of free women is incumbent upon them in both scenarios; because here, the waiting period was incumbent upon them while they were free women, whereas in the previous case, they were manumitted during the waiting period in which the husband could still have rectified the marriage, so they are like a wife in a revocable divorce. If they delay the annulment until the husband converts, their right to annulment does not lapse thereby; because their leaving the annulment is a reliance on their progression [toward separation], so it does not imply consent to the marriage, similar to a wife in a revocable divorce if she is manumitted and delays the annulment. If he converts before them, and then they are manumitted and choose to annul, it is valid; because they are slave women who were manumitted while under a slave. This is the apparent school of thought of Al-Shafi'i. Some of them said: They have no choice, because they have no need for annulment, as it occurs by their remaining in polytheism, unlike the one before it. This is not correct; for the cause is established, and they might eventually choose Islam, which is obligatory upon them. If it is said: So if they convert, they choose