2007 - Issue: He said: "If a slave is owned by two partners, and one of them makes a kitaba contract with him, but he does not perform the entirety of his kitaba contract until the other partner emancipates him, and he (the emancipator) is wealthy, then the slave has become free, and the partner has recourse against the emancipator for half of his value."

We have already mentioned previously that it is permissible for one of two partners to make a kitaba contract for his share of the slave without the permission of his partner, and the remainder of him remains uncontracted. If he does this, and the one who did not make the kitaba contract emancipates his share of him while he is wealthy, he becomes free, and the emancipation extends to the remainder of him, so he becomes entirely free. He (the emancipator) guarantees the value of his partner's share for him, and the recourse for his value is as a mukatab; he remains upon what is left of his kitaba contract, because the recourse against him is for the value of what he has destroyed, and he has only destroyed a mukatab. If the emancipator is indigent, the emancipation does not extend, according to what has already passed in the chapter of Emancipation (Al-Itq). Abu Bakr and the Qadi said: The emancipation does not extend immediately, but rather one waits. If he performs his kitaba contract, the remainder of him becomes free through the kitaba contract, and his wala' (right of patronage) is between them. If his kitaba contract is rescinded due to his inability to pay, the emancipation extends, and he is valued at that time, because the extension of emancipation immediately leads to the nullification of the wala' whose cause has been established, and its transfer from the mukatab to someone else. Ibn Abi Layla said: The emancipation of the partner is suspended until it is seen what he does regarding the kitaba contract. If he performs it, he becomes free, and the mukatab is the guarantor of the value of his partner's share, and his wala' belongs entirely to the mukatab. If he is unable to perform it, the partner's emancipation extends, and he guarantees half of the value to the mukatab, and his wala' belongs entirely to him. As for al-Shafi'i, he does not permit the kitaba contract of one of the two partners unless his partner permits it, in which case there are two opinions. If he makes a kitaba contract with him with the permission of his partner, then the one who did not make the kitaba contract emancipates him, does it extend immediately or is it suspended until [his] inability? There are two opinions regarding this. Our evidence is the saying of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace): "Whoever emancipates his share in a slave, and he possesses what reaches the value of the slave,"