Umm al-walad

On the other hand, all prominent Sunni legal schools of jurisprudence embrace Umar's perspective that the umm al-walad should not be sold and should be granted freedom following her master's death.

One rhetorical tactic involved portraying the slave mothers as foreign princesses with prestigious family backgrounds, thereby elevating their social status.

An example of this is Yazid III, who proudly declared that his mother was a Persian princess from the esteemed Sassanid dynasty, emphasizing his noble lineage.

Conversely, their adversaries used a contrasting rhetorical approach by casting doubt on their paternity and implying that using slave women to bear children would lead to significant sociopolitical unrest.

[11] Historically, many rulers of Islamic dynasties have used the method of procreating heirs with the slave concubines of their harems rather than with free legal wives.