may Allah be pleased with him, said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) gifted me two young brothers, and I sold one of them. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to me: "What has become of your young slave?" I informed him, and he said: "Return him, return him." This was narrated by al-Tirmidhi (3), who said: This is a hasan gharib (good, strange) hadith. Abd al-Rahman ibn Farrukh narrated from his father, saying: Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) wrote to us: Do not separate two brothers, nor a mother and her child, in a sale (4). Furthermore, because they are mahram relatives (5) (6), it is not permissible to separate them, like a child and a parent.

Section: It is permissible to separate other relatives, according to the apparent wording of al-Khiraqi. Others among our companions said: It is not permissible to separate mahram relatives, such as a paternal aunt with her brother’s son, or a maternal aunt with her sister’s son, based on the analogy we mentioned. Our stance is that the fundamental principle is the permissibility of sale and separation, and analogy to siblings is not valid because they are closer, which is why they block others from inheritance; thus, those beyond them remain under the requirement of the fundamental principle. As for those between whom there is no mahram kinship, separation between them is not prohibited according to any scholar we know, due to the lack of a text regarding them and the invalidity of drawing an analogy to what has been textually specified. Likewise, it is permissible to separate a foster mother and her child, or a sister and her sister, for this reason, and because foster kinship does not necessitate the emancipation of one by the other, nor maintenance, nor inheritance, so it does not prevent separation, just like friendship.

Section: If there are people among the spoils whom it is not permissible to separate, and their value is equal to the share of one of the captors, they are given to one person. If there is a surplus, and he agrees to return the value of the surplus, it is permissible. If that is not possible, they are sold together and their price is divided, or they are placed in the one-fifth (khums) share. It is permissible to separate them in emancipation and ransom, because there is no separation in emancipation regarding location, and ransom is a form of release, so it is like emancipation.