Some Lessons from Jurisprudence (Fiqh)

Islam has provided many systems of itq. Because the goal of Islam is freeing and not enslaving, the jurisprudents have titled the book dealing with slavery the Book of Freeing and not the Book of Enslaving.

The Book of Acquiring Freedom through Will, by Purchase and Through Relationship (Tadbir, mukatibeh and istilad)

Tadbir, mukatibeh and istilad are three of the ways in which slaves are freed. Tadbir is that the owner stipulates in his will that after his death his slave is free. Mukatibeh is that a slave settles an agreement with his owner that by paying a sum (or agreeing to pay a sum in the future) he will become free. In the Quran it has been stipulated that if such an application is made by a slave in whom good is discerned, meaning that belief is discerned in them, (or that it is discerned that they can manage themselves and not become helpless), not only is the application to be accepted but they are also to be given capital from their owners' wealth.

Istilad concerns a slave woman who is made pregnant by her owner. Such a woman, when the owner dies, definitely becomes part of the inheritance, a part of which is inheritated by her child, and since no one can be the slave of one's parents, grandparents and so on up, or children and grandchildren and so on down, she automatically becomes free.

Similarly, there are many other ways slaves become free, such as a slave being afflicted by blindness and so on; as the kafarah (fine) of various sins, one of the forms of which, as we have seen, is freeing a slave; being freed by someone simply to please God; and others, and these are generally discussed in the Book of Freeing.

The Book of Confessing (iqrar)

Iqrar is related to the Islamic laws of arbitration. One of the means by which a case is proved against a person is the person's own confession. If, for example, a person claims that he is owed something by a second person, he must produce evidence or testimony, and, if he does not, his claim is rejected. Should, however, the second person himself confess to the debt, this confession renders evidence and testimony unnecessary. Confession is accepted only from sane adults.

The Book of Reward (ja'alah)

Reward in its essence is similar to the hiring of people. In hire, however, a specific person is hired to do a specific work in return for a specific sum, whereas in reward no certain person is hired. Instead, the hirer simply announces that whoever does a certain work for him (like finding his missing child, for example) will be paid a certain sum as a reward.

The Book of Vows (ayman)