emptying the Muslim slave for the worship of his Lord, completing his rulings, his acts of worship, and his jihad, and assisting the Muslims. Therefore, it is appropriate to legislate his emancipation in the expiation as a means to achieve these benefits. The ruling is coupled with this in the expiation for killing, in which belief is explicitly stated, so it is used as the basis for the legal reasoning (ta'lil), and this extends to every freeing in an expiation, thus it is restricted to the believing female slave, due to her being specific to this wisdom. As for the absolute text (mutlaq) which they used as evidence, it is interpreted in light of the restricted one (muqayyad) regarding the expiation for killing, just as the absolute command in the saying of Allah the Almighty: {And bring to witness two witnesses from among your men} was interpreted in light of the restricted command in His saying: {And bring to witness two just men from among you}. And if it is not interpreted as such from the perspective of language, it is interpreted as such from the perspective of analogy (qiyas). The second condition is that she must have prayed and fasted. This is the opinion of Al-Sha'bi, Malik, and Ishaq. Al-Qadi said: The one who has not reached the age of seven does not suffice, because acts of worship are not valid from him, according to the apparent meaning of Ahmad's words. The apparent meaning of Al-Khiraqi's words is that the act is what is considered, not the age; so whoever has prayed and fasted, from among those who possess intellect and knows prayer and fasting, and whose performance of it with its intention and pillars can be verified, then he suffices for the expiation [even if he is young, and if these are not found from him, he does not suffice for the expiation] even if he is an adult. Abu Bakr and others of our companions said: It is permissible to free a child in the expiation. This is the opinion of Al-Hasan, 'Ata', Al-Zuhri, Al-Shafi'i, and Ibn al-Mundhir, because the intended meaning of belief here is Islam, based on the evidence of freeing a libertine (fasiq). Al-Thawri said: All Muslims are believers according to us in terms of rulings, and we do not know what they are in the sight of Allah. For this reason, the ruling on killing is attached to every Muslim by His saying: {And whoever kills a believer by mistake}. A child is ruled as being a Muslim; the Muslims inherit from him and he inherits from them, he is buried in the graveyards of the Muslims, he is washed, and the funeral prayer is performed over him. If he is taken captive separated from his parents, his emancipation is valid; because he