The Ruling on Selling the Womb of a Slave Woman

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, fear Allah. The intended meaning of the author’s statement is to sell the fetus of a slave woman. Is this fetus from him?

Answer:
No. If it is from him, it is not permissible, because selling his son would make him free; his son would be free, and it is not permissible to sell a free person. However, if the fetus of his slave woman is from another slave, for example, if he married his slave woman to a slave of his, or to a slave of someone else—meaning he married her to a slave—then her fetus would be a slave and his property, and it is permissible to sell it. But the sale is only after it is born; selling it while it is in its mother’s womb is not permissible. As for if the fetus is from him, by him having intercourse with this slave woman who is his property, then his son would be free, and the slave woman would be freed by that.