Contract of manumission by instalments (mukataba)

A mukataba is a contract between a slave and his master on a sum payable in instalments, on whose payment the slave is freed. It attaches manumission to a condition within a specific exchange. ¹

The contract was known before Islam, and Islam kept it; the earliest slave to make one in Islam was Abu al-Mu'ammil, whose instalments were helped. The jurists cite the Qur'an in Surat al-Nur, and the community agrees on its lawfulness. Most jurists hold it recommended. Ikrima, 'Ata', Masruq and 'Amr ibn Dinar hold it obligatory when the slave asks, a view also reported from Ahmad for a trustworthy earner. The majority reply that no one is compelled to free his property, so the verse is read as recommendation. ^{1 2}

The pillars are the master, the slave, the formula and the consideration. The slave must be of sound mind; the Hanafis and Hanbalis allow a discerning child to be contracted, while the Shafi'is require majority. The Hanafis and Malikis allow the consideration to be due at once or in one instalment; the Shafi'is and Hanbalis require deferred payment in at least two instalments. ³

When valid the contract binds the master but not the slave, in the Hanafi and Shafi'i views; when invalid it binds neither. On full payment the slave is freed and may be helped from zakat. ⁴

After committing to the contract the slave acts in some matters like a free man: he may buy, sell, share with partners, and deal in his earnings, but not spend wastefully. The master may not stop him from dealings that benefit the property. Once he has paid he is freed, and his walā' goes to the master who freed him, on the hadith that walā' belongs to the one who frees. ⁴