Running away (ibaq) of a slave

In the jurists' usage, ibaq (running away) is a slave's flight in rebellion from the one who holds him, without fear or hardship in the work. It is forbidden by consensus. The Kuwaiti encyclopedia takes its rules through the four Sunni schools: taking up a runaway and his upkeep, liability for his wrongdoing, blood-money, sale, defect, manumission, and the reward owed to whoever returns him. ^{1 2}

Linguistically, ibaq means flight, and it is used of a person, free or slave. The encyclopedia records the jurists' definition and notes that some jurists use the word for anyone who has gone into hiding for any reason. ¹

Ibn Hajar al-Haytami and al-Dhahabi count it among the major sins. The encyclopedia cites a report from Jarir ibn Abd Allah al-Bajali forbidding it, in which a runaway slave is said to have "disbelieved until he returns to them." ¹

The Hanafis and Malikis hold that taking a runaway is obligatory when his loss is feared and his owner would otherwise likely lose him, if the taker is fully able to take him; they hold it forbidden for the taker to keep him for himself. The Shafi'is hold that taking him without the owner's consent is not permitted, but is permitted with it. The Hanbalis permit taking him, because he may otherwise reach the abode of war, apostatise, or fall into corruption. ²

A runaway in the taker's hands is a trust, liable only for transgression or negligence; if the owner cannot be found, the taker hands him to the imam or his deputy. ²

The Hanafis and Shafi'is hold that one who spends on the runaway without the judge's leave is a volunteer who cannot claim it back from the owner; with the owner's leave he may. The Malikis hold that his upkeep is owed from the runaway himself, not from the owner's account. The Hanbalis hold that the owner owes the upkeep, which the taker recovers on return. ²

The jurists agree that a runaway's wrongdoing is treated as it was before the flight, since he remains his owner's property. A deliberate killing brings retaliation, unless the heirs pardon for money; otherwise the slave is handed to the heirs or the owner ransoms him. Blood-money and compensation for injury to him belong to the owner. ^{2 3}

The owner may sell a runaway by agreement if he can deliver him to the buyer. A judge who holds him may sell him when he sees benefit, after detention, and the schools differ on how long he may be held. The taker may not sell him. Running away is a defect in a male or female slave that allows the sale to be returned; the detail is in the chapter on defects. A taker who loses the slave without transgression or negligence bears no liability. Manumission by the owner during the flight, before the taker hands him over, is valid by consensus. ³

The reward is a sum owed to whoever returns a runaway or a lost animal. The Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis take it to be what the one who offers the reward names, or what he agrees with the worker. The Hanbalis add that if the named sum is less than the legal figure (a dinar or twelve dirhams), the returner takes the legal figure, on one of two views. The Hanafis hold that the maximum is forty dirhams, if the return is from a journey of shortened-prayer distance or more, on a report from Ibn Mas'ud. ^{3 4}