[1][page needed] The Ẓāhirī school of Islamic jurisprudence view it to be compulsory,[2][3] while the Shafa'is, Malikis and Hanafis perceive it to be merely recommended,[3] and mustahabb (praiseworthy) to do so.
And if someone coerces them, then after such a coercion Allah is certainly All-Forgiving, Most Merciful ˹to them˺.A slave identified as Subay referred to his master, Sayyidina Huwaytib bin Abdul Izza, for Kitaba, or a letter of manumission, and was promptly refused.
[9] The hadith concerns Barira - a slave girl inherited by the sons of Utba bin Abu Lahab - consulting Ayesha in need for payment of the kitaba.
"Bukhari makes mention of a slave known as Sirin, who owned some wealth, requesting emancipation from Musa bin Anas; who supposedly refused granting the contract.
Umar, after being consulted by the slave, ordered that Musa was to be lashed, verbalizing the expression, "Give them such a contract if ye find any good in them.
"[11][12][13] Al-Bukhari said: “Rawh narrated from Ibn Jurayj: `I said to `Ata’, “If I know that my servant has money, is it obligatory for me to write him a contract of emancipation” He said, “I do not think it can be anything but obligatory” `Amr bin Dinar said: “I said to `Ata’, `Are you narrating this from anybody’ He said, `No,’ then he told me that Musa bin Anas told him that Sirin, who had a lot of money, asked Anas for a contract of emancipation and he refused.
'"[11] According to Joseph Schacht, those who were hearing Muhammad pronouncing this verse "were supposed to know the details of the transaction referred to, and the strictest interpretation of the passage suggests that it was not identical with the contract of manumission by mukataba such as was elaborated later by the ancient lawyers in the second century of Islam."
Another early decision attributed to the Meccan scholar Ata ibn Rabi Rabah was that the slave acquired liberty having paid three-quarters.
[3] Maududi highlights the affirmation regarding the obligation by citing the Ahadith recounted by Abdur Razzaq and Bukhari in reference to a slave mentioned as Sirin, who owned some wealth, requesting emancipation from Musa bin Anas; who supposedly refused granting the contract.
"[3] Ashiq Ilahi cites Umar bin Dinar and Sayiddana Ali as being proponents for the first part of the verse,"give them such a deed," as using imperative tone, hence making it compulsory.
[8] He states that Dur al-Manthur credited the hadith mentioned in Abu Dawud and Bayhaqi, which included Muhammad defining "good" as reference to one's skill and qualifications for labour and also hinting there being an implication of it simply forbidding the slave be compelled to beg.
[1] The majority of Sunni authorities approved the manumission of all the "People of the Book", that is, Christians and Jews, but according to some jurists, especially among the Shi’a, only Muslim slaves should be liberated.
[17] Most Muslim scholars forbid selling the slave after concluding the mukataba; the Hanbalis, who disagree with this view, maintain that the purchaser inherits the obligation to liberate the mukatab under the terms of the contract of enfranchisement.