Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that if a slave makes a contract of manumission with his master on the condition that his wala’ (right of inheritance/loyalty) will go to whomever he wishes, then this is not permissible because wala’ will go only to the one who sets him free. And if the master gives the slave permission to make a contract of wala’ with whomever he wishes, even then it will not be permissible, because the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:“Wala’ will go to the one who sets free.”And the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, forbade the sale and gift of wala’. So if it were permissible for the master to stipulate the condition of wala’ with the slave or to give him permission to give wala’ to whomever he wishes, then in that case wala’ would become a gift.

It is narrated from Rabi'ah bin Abi Abdur Rahman that Sayyiduna Zubair bin Al-Awwam (may Allah be pleased with him) bought a slave and set him free. The children of this slave were from a free woman. When Sayyiduna Zubair bin Al-Awwam (may Allah be pleased with him) freed the slave, he said: "His children are my clients (mawla) and their mother's." The people said: "They are our clients." Both parties disputed and went to Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him). He (may Allah be pleased with him) ruled that their wala' (clientship) would go to Sayyiduna Zubair (may Allah be pleased with him).

Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib was asked: If a slave's son is born from a free woman, to whom will the wala' (right of inheritance/freedom) of this boy go? Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib said: If the boy's father dies while still a slave, the wala' will go to the mawali (clients) of his mother.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The example of this is that the child of the woman who has undergone li'an will be attributed to the mawali of his mother. If he dies, they will be his heirs; if he commits manslaughter, they will pay the blood money. Then, if the husband of this woman acknowledges that this is his son, the wala' will go to the mawali of the father; they will be the heirs, they will pay the blood money, but the prescribed punishment for false accusation (qadhf) will befall his father.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Similarly, if a woman who has undergone li'an is an Arab and her husband acknowledges the boy as his son, then the boy will be joined to his father. As long as the husband does not acknowledge him, the inheritance of that boy will be given to his mother and uterine brothers, and whatever remains will belong to the Muslims. And the inheritance of the boy born from li'an goes to the mawali of his mother because, as long as her husband has not acknowledged him, neither does the boy have lineage nor any 'asaba. When the husband acknowledges, the lineage is established, and he will be joined to his 'asaba.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that if a slave has children from a free woman and the slave’s father is free, then the grandfather will be the owner of the wala’ of his grandson, as long as the father remains a slave. When the father becomes free, the wala’ will go to his mawali. If the father dies while still a slave, then the inheritance and wala’ will go to the grandfather. If one of the two free sons of this slave dies and their father is a slave, then the wala’ and inheritance will go to their grandfather.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that if a pregnant slave woman is set free and her husband is a slave, then the husband is also set free either before or after she gives birth, the wala' (right of inheritance) of the child will go to the mawla (patron) of the mother, because this child became her slave before her emancipation. However, any pregnancy that occurs to this woman after her emancipation, its wala' will go to the father when he is set free. Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said: If a slave, with the permission of his mawla, sets his own slave free, then the wala' will go to the mawla, not to the slave, even if he is set free.

Malik said, regarding a slave who seeks permission from his master to free a slave he owns, and his master permits him: The allegiance (wala’) of the freed slave belongs to the master of the slave, and the allegiance does not revert to the master who freed him, even if he is freed.

It is narrated from Abdul Malik bin Abi Bakr bin Abdur Rahman that Asiy bin Hisham died and left three sons, two of whom were full brothers and one was a half-brother (i.e., his mother was different). Then one of the full brothers died and left behind wealth and freed slaves. His heir was his full brother, who took all the wealth and the right of wala (allegiance) over the slaves. Then that brother also died and left a son and a half-brother (i.e., the son of Asiy bin Hisham). The son said: I am the owner of my father's wealth and wala. The brother said: Indeed, you are the owner of the wealth, but not of the wala. Suppose if the first brother had died today, I would have been his heir. Then both disputed. They came to Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), and he gave the wala to the brother.

Abdullah bin Abi Bakr bin Hazm was sitting with his father Aban bin Uthman when some people from Juhaina and some from Banu Harith bin Khazraj came disputing. The case was that a woman from Juhaina was married to a man from Banu Harith bin Khazraj, whose name was Ibrahim bin Kulayb. That woman died and left behind property and freed slaves. Her husband and son became her heirs. Then her son died. Now the heirs of the son said: The wala’ (right of inheritance from freed slaves) will go to us because the woman's son had taken possession of this wala’. And the people of Juhaina said that we are entitled to the wala’ because those slaves belonged to a woman from our tribe, so when her son died, the wala’ should go to us. Aban bin Uthman awarded the wala’ to the people of Juhaina.