Section: If the religion of the master and his emancipated slave differs, the wala' (right of patronage) remains established. We know of no disagreement regarding this due to the generality of the Prophet's (peace be upon him) statement: "Wala' belongs to the one who emancipated" [15]. And his statement: "Wala' is a tie like the tie of lineage" [16]. The tie of lineage remains established despite a difference in religion, and likewise is wala'. Moreover, wala' is established for him over the slave due to the favor he bestowed upon him by emancipating him, and this meaning remains constant despite the difference in their religions. Wala' is established for a male over a female, for a female over a male, and for every emancipator, due to the generality of the tradition and the meaning, as well as the hadith of Abdullah ibn Shaddad. Does the master inherit from his mawla despite a difference in religion? There are two narrations regarding this. One is that he does inherit from him; this is narrated from Ali and Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, and it is the view of the Ahl al-Zahir (literalists). Ahmad argued based on the statement of Ali: "Wala' is a branch of slavery." Malik said: A Muslim inherits from his Christian mawla because he is entitled to own him [17], but a Christian does not inherit from his Muslim mawla because he is not entitled to own him. The majority of the jurists [18] maintain that he does not inherit from him if their religions differ, based on the statement of the Prophet (peace be upon him): "A Muslim does not inherit from a disbeliever, nor a disbeliever from a Muslim" [19]. This is because it is an inheritance, and thus it is prohibited by a difference in religion, just like inheritance by lineage. Furthermore, a difference in religion is a barrier to inheritance, so it precludes inheritance by wala' just as killing and slavery do. This is confirmed by the fact that inheritance by lineage is stronger; if the stronger is prohibited, then the weaker is more deservedly prohibited. Additionally, the Prophet (peace be upon him) linked wala' to lineage by his statement: "Wala' is a tie like the tie of lineage." Just as a difference in religion prevents inheritance despite the validity and establishment of lineage, it also prevents it despite the validity and establishment of wala'. If they both share Islam, they inherit from one another like those related by lineage. This is the most correct view in terms of tradition and reasoning, if Allah Almighty wills. If the master has asaba (agnatic heirs) who follow the religion of the slave, they inherit from him to the exclusion of his master. Dawud said: His asaba do not inherit while he (the master) is alive. We argue that he is in the same position as if the closest of the asaba were of a different religion than the deceased while the more distant one followed his religion; the latter would inherit to the exclusion of the close relative.