Saved on this device only — nothing is sent anywhere.
Wala' (clientage, fiqh)
وَلاء
Wala', in the language, comes from wali, a root meaning nearness; the word is used for nearness of place, of kinship, of religion, of friendship, of support and of belief. Wala' and tawali both mean following one another without a gap between. 1
The majority (Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis) confine wala' to the legal kinship that arises when a slave is freed and ownership of him ends. The Malikis define it as a connection like kinship that arises from manumission. The Shafi'is define it as an 'asaba arising from a freedom that comes after ownership has ended, later than the 'asaba of lineage, which gives the manumitter and his male 'asaba inheritance, the guardianship of a marriage, the funeral prayer and the payment of blood-money on his behalf. The Hanbalis define it as the establishment of a legal rule, an 'asaba fixed by manumission or by the cause of it, such as umm walad status or tadbir. 2 The Hanafis define it as a legal kinship arising from manumission or from alliance, with the effects of inheritance, blood-money and guardianship of marriage. They distinguish two kinds: wala' 'itaqa (the wala' of blessing), caused by manumission; and wala' muwala, caused by contract, in which one person covenants with another that if he commits a crime he will pay its compensation, and if he dies his estate goes to the other. 2
Related words: manumission ('itq), which is the cause of wala'; inheritance (irth), its effect; and blood-money ('aql), which it also causes. 23
Wala' of manumission (wala' al-'itaqa) is an 'asaba later than the kinship of lineage, which gives the manumitter and his male 'asaba after him inheritance, blood-money, guardianship of the marriage and the funeral prayer for the one he freed. The term 'client of manumission' (mawla al-'itaqa) applies to the manumitter and to the freed slave, and some say only to the manumitter. 3
Its lawfulness rests on the Prophet ﷺ's saying: 'the wala' belongs to the one who frees', which al-Bukhari and Muslim report from 'A'isha. 3
Its cause is manumission. The jurists agree that wala' belongs to the manumitter where the manumission is not forbidden, whether he did it himself or by what takes the place of manumission in law, such as buying a relative, accepting a gift or charity or a bequest, or whether it came without his act, as when he inherits a relative. It holds whether the manumission is for no price, for a price, conditioned, or dated, express or implicit, and so too manumission by tadbir, by umm walad status, or by contract of purchase of freedom. It also holds where he frees a slave for a duty, such as expiation for killing, for zihar, for breaking the fast in Ramadan, for ila', for an oath or for a vow, according to the Hanafis, Malikis, Shafi'is and the school view of the Hanbalis; a Hanbali narration holds there is no wala' in these cases. 34
Wala' in forbidden manumission. Manumission may be forbidden: where the manumitter is likely to see the slave join the enemy's territory, leave Islam, or steal and raid, or where the slave is freed for the devil or an idol. The Hanafis hold that the manumission takes effect despite its prohibition and the wala' belongs to the manumitter; they say that one who frees a slave for the devil or an idol is an unbeliever on the sounder view. The Hanbalis say that manumission in such cases is disliked, that where it is likely to lead to the forbidden it is forbidden, and that if it is done it is valid. 4
Wala' in manumission as a sa'iba (a freed slave whom the master releases without any obligation to him). The Hanafis, Shafis, the sounder Hanbali view and Ibn Nafi' among the Malikis hold that the wala' belongs to the manumitter, on the Prophet's saying that the wala' belongs to the one who frees, and because wala' is a kinship like lineage, which a condition does not remove. The Malikis in the settled view call it disliked; Asbagh allows it; Ibn al-Majishun forbids it. A Hanbali narration denies any wala' to the manumitter, so that what comes back from the freed man's estate is spent on freeing slaves; the sounder view, according to al-Mardawi, sends it to the public treasury. 5
Difference of religion and its effect on wala'. The majority (Hanafis, Shafis, Hanbalis) hold that the manumitter has the wala' even when his religion differs from the freed man's. The Malikis require that the two share a religion: if the master is an unbeliever, the wala' belongs to all Muslims, and it does not return to him when he becomes a Muslim. 6
The sale and gift of wala' are not valid according to the four schools, on the Prophet's prohibition of its sale and gift, and because it is an inheritable status that does not pass like kinship. 6
Passing of wala' on death. The wala' belongs to the manumitter and then to his male agnatic kin, and not to the sharers. A woman inherits by wala' only from her freed slave, his children and his freed slaves. Ibrahim al-Nakha'i, Shurayh and Tawus hold that wala' is like property and is inherited as the manumitter's estate is. 67
Inheritance by wala'. The jurists agree that the master inherits the whole estate of his freed man when he dies, if their religions agree and there is no other heir, on the saying that wala' is a kinship like lineage, and on the report of Hasan that the Prophet gave the master the estate where there was no heir. The master takes before the return of shares to the sharers and before the distant kin, according to the majority. If the manumitter has agnatic kin, or sharers who exhaust the estate, the master gets nothing, on the Prophet's words: give the shares to their owners, and what remains goes to the nearest male. 7
Inheritance across religion. The Hanafis, Shafis and a narration of Ahmad hold that the manumitter does not inherit from the freed man when their religions differ, on the saying that a Muslim does not inherit from an unbeliever and an unbeliever does not inherit from a Muslim; if both are Muslim they inherit each other. The Hanbalis in the school view hold that a Muslim inherits from an unbeliever by wala', on the report that a Muslim does not inherit from a Christian except a slave of his own. The majority hold that the freed man does not inherit from his manumitter, since there is no kinship between them; Shurayh and Tawus held that he did. 89
Blood-money and the 'aqila (the kin who pay it). The majority hold that the 'aqila are the agnates, and then those related by manumission. The Hanafis: if the killer is a freed man or a client by contract, his 'aqila is his master and his master's tribe, on the saying the client of a people is of them. The Malikis (settled view): the 'aqila are the agnates, then the manumitters, then the public treasury. The Shafi'is: the agnates, then the manumitter, then his agnates, then the public treasury; a freed slave does not pay for his manumitter in the sounder view. The Hanbalis: the 'aqila are all agnates and wala'-kin except the ascendants and descendants. 910
Wala' of contract (wala' al-muwala). It is a covenant by which one man makes an alliance with another: if he commits a crime, the other pays its compensation, and if he dies, his estate goes to the other. Three views are given. The first, held by the Hanafis and reported from 'Umar, 'Ali and Ibn Mas'ud, is that it is a valid wala' by a valid contract, giving inheritance and blood-money. They cite the verse of the covenanted in Surat al-Nisa (verse 33), the verse of the remoter kin, the report of Tamim al-Dari (may God be pleased with him) that the convert's client is the nearest to his life and death, and the fact that the Companions did not give wala' by Islam alone. The second, held by the settled Maliki view, the Shafis and the Hanbalis, is that it has no effect at all, citing 'wala' belongs to the one who frees', the saying 'no alliance in Islam' and the harm to the Muslim community, which would otherwise inherit from the unknown dead. The third, held by Ishaq ibn Rahawayh, a Hanbali narration, a Maliki view and reported from 'Umar, 'Ata' and 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz, is that wala' arises by conversion at another's hand, without an alliance. 101112
The cause of wala' of contract, for those who hold it valid, is the contract itself, with offer and acceptance, such as 'you are my client; you will inherit from me if I die and pay my compensation if I commit a crime'; the reply 'I accept'. A person converted at one man's hand who made alliance with another is the client of the one he allied with. 1213
The Hanafis state nine conditions for this contract. The first is that the contracting party is sane. Adulthood is a condition of making the offer, so a minor's offer is void even if he is sane; the minor's acceptance needs the guardian's consent to take effect. Islam is not a condition: a dhimmi may make alliance with a dhimmi or a Muslim, and the sex of the parties and the abode of Islam or war do not matter. 13
Among the Hanafi conditions of the contract of alliance: the person who makes it must have no wala' of manumission, since that is stronger and a weaker tie cannot overrule it; he must have no alliance already made with another whose blood-money he has paid, since that alliance has become firm and binding; and he must not have had his blood-money paid by the public treasury, since his wala' has then gone to the whole community of Muslims. 14
He must be free and of unknown lineage, meaning that he is not ascribed to another, since one whose lineage is known may not ally himself to another; this is the view relied on in the school. He must not be an Arab, since an Arab has a tribe that supports him and so does not become a client; nor a client of the Arabs, since their client is one of them. 1415 The contract must include the blood-money and the inheritance: that the one allied pays the blood-money if the other commits a crime, and inherits from him if he dies. 15
The nature of the contract. The Hanafis hold it is a permissive contract, not binding, so either party may end it by his own will, as with agency, partnership and bequest, until he has paid blood-money on the other's behalf; then the contract is binding, since the right of another is involved. Ending it must be in the presence of the other party; if the client makes an alliance with another, that is an implied ending. 1516
The effects of the contract are blood-money during life and inheritance after death. The Hanafis hold that the lower client may inherit from the higher one if they stipulate it in the contract, on the saying that Muslims abide by their conditions. 16
The contract cannot be transferred. The wala' established by this contract cannot be sold, given or bequeathed, since it is not property and the saying that wala' is a kinship like lineage, which is not sold or given, applies to it. If the lower client sells it to another, that ends the first alliance and makes an alliance with the second. 16
What proves the contract. The Hanafis hold that it is proved as wala' of manumission is proved, by an explained testimony or by acknowledgement, including acknowledgement in the last illness, since such a person is not suspected when he has no known heir. 16
