The foundling (manbud, laqit): taking up, status, freedom and ascription

The manbud is a living child cast out by his people for fear of poverty or to escape suspicion. Taking him up is lawful and saves his life; the jurists differ on whether it is obligatory and on witnessing it. ¹

The right belongs to a free, mature person, even a poor one, who is Muslim where the child is judged Muslim, and of sound or unknown character, with a difference of view on the latter. ¹

If two qualified people compete, the judge gives him to the one who is better for him. Whoever takes him first has the right, on the saying: 'whoever is first to what no Muslim has reached has it'. The Shafi'is prefer the rich over the poor and the just over the unknown; if equal, they draw lots. ²

The resident of a town is preferred over a traveller, the townsman over the nomad, the sighted over the blind, and the healthy over the leper, if such persons may take him. He may not be moved to desert or village life, where the life is rough and his lineage may be lost. ^{2 3}

If found in a land the Muslims founded, he is judged Muslim even where there are protected people, since Islam is supreme. In a land the Muslims conquered, he is Muslim if one Muslim lives there, otherwise a non-Muslim. If a protected person or enemy brings evidence of descent, he is ascribed to him and judged non-Muslim. ^{3 4}

If a qualified free male Muslim claims him under the conditions for ascription, he is ascribed to him. ⁴

He is free according to the general view of scholars, since people are born free and slavery is accidental. A claim that he is a slave without proof is rejected, and an acknowledgment of slavery is accepted only if no earlier acknowledgment of freedom was made. ^{4 5}