Chapter on the Inheritance of Slaves

Al-Hasan ibn Mahbub narrated from Wahb ibn Abd Rabbih from Abu Abdullah Imam Jafar ibn Muhammad Al-Sadiq عليه السلام who said: I asked him about a man who had a slave woman (umm walad) and her child from him died. He then married her to another man, and she bore him a child. Later, that man died, and she returned to her original master. I asked: "Does he have the right to be intimate with her before marrying her?" Imam عليه السلام said: "He cannot be intimate with her until she completes the waiting period (iddah) for the deceased husband, which is four months and ten days. After that, he may be intimate with her through ownership without marriage." I asked: "What about her child from the husband?" Imam عليه السلام said: "If the deceased husband left wealth, the child should be bought for its value and then freed, and the child would inherit. If he left no wealth, the child remains with its mother in the same condition."