if he marries her, he has acted kindly toward her by granting her chastity and protecting her, so it is not disliked, just as if he were to marry her off to someone else. There is no retraction here of something that was dedicated to Allah the Almighty; for he is only marrying her for her dower, and this is in the position of one who has bought something from her.

Section: If he intends to marry her after her manumission, he does not need to perform istibra' (observance of a waiting period to ensure the womb is not pregnant), whether he had been having sexual relations with her or not; because istibra' is for the preservation of the lineage (lit. the water), and that is not preserved against him [since he is the one who was the owner]. If he buys a slave-woman and manumits her before performing istibra', it is not permissible for him to marry her, nor to marry her off to someone else, until he performs istibra'; because it was a mandatory duty, and it is not nullified by his manumitting her. Ahmad said, regarding a man who has a slave-woman whom he does not have sexual relations with and then manumits her: He may not marry her on that same day until he performs istibra'. If he was having sexual relations with her and then manumits her, he may marry her on that same day, or whenever he wishes, because she is within his 'water' (his legitimate sexual relations). The Qadi said: The meaning of his saying 'If he was having sexual relations with her' is that it is permissible for him to have sexual relations with her, and she is one whom he has already performed istibra' for. And his saying 'If he was not having sexual relations with her' means that it is not permissible for him to have sexual relations with her, and she is one for whom the time of istibra' has not passed, so it is not permissible for him to marry her until he performs istibra'. If some of the istibra' period has passed before her manumission, she completes it after it, and she is not required to restart the istibra'; because the istibra' became obligatory due to the purchase, not the manumission, so its commencement is calculated from the time its cause was found.

Section: If a person says: "Manumit your slave on the condition that I marry you off to my daughter," and he manumits him, it is not binding upon him to marry him off to his daughter; because this is a conditional contract (salaf) in a marriage, and he owes the value of the slave. Al-Shafi'i said, in one of his two opinions: Nothing is binding upon him, because he receives no benefit from the manumission. Our view is that he removed his ownership over his slave