spending the night in Muzdalifah and Mina, and the stoning, and he terminates his ihram with an 'Umrah, and proceeds (28) with the spoiled Hajj on foot until he completes it.

1857 - Issue: He said: "And if one vows to manumit a slave, it is that which suffices for the obligatory one, unless he intended a specific slave."

Meaning: Nothing suffices him except for a believing slave, free from defects that are harmful to work, which is what suffices in the expiation; because an absolute vow is interpreted according to what is customary in the Shari'ah, and the duty mandated by the original Shari'ah is as such. This is one of the two opinions held by the companions of al-Shafi'i. The other opinion is: Any slave suffices him, whether sound or defective, Muslim or disbeliever, because the name encompasses all of that. Our position is that the absolute is interpreted according to the custom of the Shari'ah, which is what is obligatory in the expiation. What they mentioned is invalidated by the vow to walk to the Sacred House of Allah, for it is not interpreted according to what the name encompasses. As for if he intended a specific slave, his manumission of it suffices, whichever slave it was, because he intended with his wording what it could bear. And if he intended what the name "slave" applies to, what he intended suffices him, for what we have mentioned, for the absolute becomes restricted by intention, just as it becomes restricted by verbal context. Ahmad said, regarding one who vowed to manumit a specific slave, and he died before he could manumit him: "A kaffarah (expiation) for an oath is binding upon him, and manumission of a slave is not binding upon him; because this is something that has passed, according to the hadith of 'Uqbah ibn 'Amir (2), and that is what I follow regarding that which is missed and that which one is rendered incapable of."

Section: If one vows a sacrificial animal (hady) absolutely, nothing suffices him except for that which suffices in the udhiyah (sacrificial animal of Eid). This is also the position of Abu Hanifah, and al-Shafi'i in one of his two sayings, because the absolute is interpreted according to the custom of the Shari'ah. If he specifies the hady by his wording or his intention, what he specified suffices him, whether it is small or large, significant (3) or insignificant, because that is called a hady. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Whoever goes out in the fifth hour, it is as if he had offered a egg as a sacrifice" (4). We have only diverted the absolute to the custom of the Shari'ah because it has prevailed (5) over the name, just as if...