Can a Master make his slave-girl halal for another man?

Question

From Muwatta Malik

The best of what is heard about a slave-girl whom a man has intercourse with while he has a partner in her is that the hadd is not inflicted on him and the child is connected to him. When the slave-girl becomes pregnant, her value is estimated and he gives his partners their shares of the price and the slave-girl is his. That is what is done among us." Malik said about a man who made his slave-girl halal to a man that if the one for whom she was made halal had intercourse with her, her value was estimated on the day he had intercourse with her and he owed that to her owner whether or not she conceived. The hadd was averted from him by that. If she conceived the child was connected to him. Malik said about a man who had intercourse with his son's or daughter's slave-girl, "The hadd is averted from him and he owes the estimated value of the slave-girl whether or not she conceives

Answer 1

Depends on what you mean by 'make halal'. There are valid procedures by which a person can make it halal for another person to have sexual relations with a slave.

• An owner may give his slave in marriage to another person.
• Or he may completely transfer ownership to another person through sale or gift.

Doing either of the above is permissible. Any other arrangement is not permissible.

The section of Muwatta Malik that you have quoted - باب ما لا حد فيه - discusses some scenarios where the Hadd of Zina (100 lashes or stoning to death) is not enforced. They are as follows:

• A slave has multiple owners, and one of the owners has sexual intercourse with her
• A person has sexual intercourse with a slave whose owner says that he has permitted him to do so
• A person has sexual intercourse with a slave belonging to his children

In all three cases, the sexual intercourse is not lawful. However a person could be misled into believing that it was lawful. Hence the Hadd punishment will not be carried out since the principle is that Hudud are to be averted because of doubts. This is what Imam Malik means to say in the given passage.