Hadith 3296a

(1) The statement: “And gave her as a dowry, etc.”: Meaning, if he frees a slave woman and makes her emancipation her dowry, saying, “I freed you on condition that you marry me for the compensation of emancipation,” and she accepts, the emancipation is valid, and she has the choice to marry him. If she marries him, she is entitled to the dowry of her peers. This is the view of Abu Hanifah, Zufar, and Muhammad. Ash-Shafi‘i and Abu Yusuf, a companion of Abu Hanifah, differed, citing the Hadith: He married Safiyyah and made her emancipation her dowry. We say: The text of Allah’s Book specifies wealth, as after listing the prohibited women, He permitted those beyond them, conditioned on seeking with wealth, as Allah says: “And lawful to you is what is beyond that, that you seek with your wealth” [An-Nisa: 24]. This is supported by Razinah’s Hadith and the narrator’s statement, which is a euphemism for no dowry, meaning he freed her and married her without anything but emancipation. Marriage without a dowry was permissible for the Prophet (ﷺ), not others. At most, the narrator’s wording is ambiguous, so it should be interpreted to avoid conflict with the Book. If she refuses to marry him, we compel her with her value. In essence, this is specific to the Prophet (ﷺ), and others cannot do so, supported by Ibn Umar’s statement in the text. This is the essence of Al-Marqah and Umdat al-Qari.