unspecified, and one of them dies, we cast lots between the deceased and the living. If the lot falls on the deceased, we count him as part of the estate and appraise him at the time of emancipation, whether he died during his master's lifetime or after him but before the drawing of lots. Al-Shafi'i held this view. Malik said: If he dies before his master's death, we cast lots between the two living ones because they represent the entire estate, and for this reason, only one-third of them are emancipated, and the deceased is not taken into account because he is not counted as part of the estate. Thus, if he had emancipated the two living ones after his death, we would have emancipated one-third of them. Our position is that the deceased is one of the slaves being emancipated, so it is necessary to cast lots between him and them, just as if he had died after his master. Furthermore, the objective is to complete the rulings and attain the reward of emancipation, and this is achieved with the deceased, so he must be included in the drawing of lots, just as if he had died after his master. If the drawing of lots falls on the living one, we look at that living one: if the deceased had died before the master's death or after it but before the heir had taken possession of him, we do not count him as part of the estate because he did not reach the heir. Thus, the estate consists of the two living ones, and one-third of them is extracted from whomever the lot falls upon, and his value is determined at the time of emancipation because that is the time of disposal. The value of the estate is considered based on the lesser of the two values, from the time of death until the time the heir takes possession, because the increase is a benefit that accrued during the heir's ownership, so it is not calculated against him as part of the estate, and the decrease before possession did not happen to him, nor did he benefit from it, so it is like a stray or fugitive slave. Only what came into his possession is calculated against him, and the deceased is not counted as part of the estate because he did not reach the heirs; thus, the one-third of the two living ones is completed from whomever the lot falls upon. If his death occurred after the heirs took possession, he is counted as part of the estate because he reached them, and we treat him like the living one in terms of valuing him with them, and in the ruling of his emancipation if the lot falls on him, or from the two-thirds if the lot falls on someone else. His value is calculated based on the lesser of the two values, from the time of his master's death until the time he took possession. Al-Shafi'i stated something similar to this.