Marriage to a slave woman (nikah al-amah)

Al-Sha'rawi sets out the conditions for marrying a believing slave woman: her owner's permission, a dower paid in the customary way, and marriage to a free woman being preferred. He says the ruling aims to end slavery. ¹³

He says the slave woman is married with her owner's permission, so that the owner knows the marriage right has passed to the husband while ownership of her person stays with him, and that her dower is paid in the customary way as the price of enjoyment and as a mark of her dignity. ¹³

He holds that a man able to marry a free woman does not need a slave woman, and explains "al-'anat" as hardship and strain. A footnote lists conditions that some jurists require, without naming them. ⁴

He says a slave woman who commits zina after marriage receives half the penalty of a free married woman, and that a child follows the mother's status, so that a child of a slave mother is a slave. ²³⁵

No academic reading of marriage to slave women is set out in these pages (needs_source). The footnote's jurists are not named.