Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that a mukatab is like a slave whom the master sets free after ten years of service. If the master dies and ten years have not passed, then he will complete the ten years of service with the heirs, and the wala’ will go to the one who established his freedom, or to his male offspring or to his asabah (male relatives through the father).

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that if a person stipulates with his mukatab (contracted slave) that he should not travel, or not marry, or not leave his land without his permission, and if he does so, then it will be in his (the master’s) power to annul the contract of manumission. In this case, the annulment of the contract will not be in his power, even if the mukatab does any of these things. If the master annuls the contract of the mukatab, then the mukatab should complain to the judge, who will rule that the contract cannot be annulled. However, it is necessary that the mukatab should not marry, travel, or leave the land without the master’s permission, whether this condition was stipulated or not. The reason for this is that a man contracts his slave for one hundred dinars, and the slave has a thousand dinars with him, so he marries and spends those dinars as dowry, then becomes helpless and returns to the master, having neither wealth nor anything else. In this, there is complete loss for the master. Or the mukatab travels, and the time for the installments arrives, but he is not present, so in this there is hardship for the master. For this reason, it is not proper for the mukatab to marry or travel without the master’s permission; rather, the authority over these matters belongs to the master, whether he permits or forbids.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that if a mukatab (a slave with a contract for freedom) also makes his own slave a mukatab, and then the mukatab of the mukatab is freed before the original mukatab, then his wala’ (right of allegiance) will go to the mawla (master) of the original mukatab until the original mukatab is freed. When the original mukatab is freed, the wala’ of his mukatab will return to him. If the mukatab dies or becomes incapable before paying off the contract, then his free children will not receive the wala’ of their father’s mukatab, because their father did not have the right to wala’, as he was not freed.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that if a mukatab (contracted slave) is jointly owned by two men, and then one of them waives his right but the other does not, and then the mukatab dies and leaves wealth, then the one who did not waive his right will take his due, and whatever wealth remains will be divided between both of them as if he had died in the state of slavery, because the one who waived his right did not set him free, rather he only forgave his own right.

Malik said about the mukatab who is between two men, and one of them leaves to the mukatab what he has against him, and the other withholds, then the mukatab dies and leaves wealth. Malik said: The one who did not leave him anything is to be given what remains due to him. Then they divide the wealth as if he had died a slave, because what was done is not emancipation, but rather he only left what was due to him.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The evidence for this is: A man died and left behind a mukatab and also left behind sons and daughters. Then one of the daughters freed her share, so the wala’ would not be established for her. If this had been emancipation, then the wala’ would necessarily be established for her.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that this is also evidence that if a person frees his share and then the mukatab becomes free, the one who freed his share will not have to pay the price of the remaining shares. If this was considered emancipation, then according to the hadith, he would have to pay the price of the shares of the others.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that another proof of this is that the practice of the Muslims, about which there is no difference, is that if a person frees a share from a mukatab, then he will not be freed from his wealth, because if it were so, the wala’ would go to him and not to his partners.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that another proof of this is that the practice of the Muslims is also that the person who enters into a contract of kitabah, the wala’ will go to him, and among the heirs of the master of the mukatab, the women will not receive the wala’, even if they free a portion themselves. Rather, the wala’ will go to the sons of the master of the mukatab or to other male agnates.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said that if several slaves are contracted as mukatab (contracted for emancipation) in a single agreement, the master cannot free one of the slaves unless the other mukatab slaves agree. If they are minors, their consent is not considered. The reason for this is that among several slaves, one slave may be very clever and hardworking, and it is expected that through his labor and effort, he may also secure the freedom of the others. The master might then free only that person so that the remaining slaves, being unable to work as hard, would remain slaves. This is not permissible, because it causes harm to the remaining slaves, and the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "There is no harm in Islam."