“I once asked abu Ja’far (a.s.), about the case of a man who owed the freeing of a slave but he died before freeing a slave. His son then went to buy a man from his earnings and set him free on behalf of his father; the freed man earned an asset and then died; and about to whom belongs his legacy? He (the Imam) said, ‘If his father owed it because of Zihar, thanksgiving or it was obligatory on him then the freed is Sa’ibah (unconditionally freed slave) and no one has anything on him. If he found a guardian for himself from the Muslims before his death, who took upon himself his liabilities for his crimes, he is his guardian and heir; if no relatives of the freed man exists. If he did not find anyone of the Muslims as his guardian until he died, then his legacy is for the Imam of the Muslims if his relatives who can inherit him do not exist.’ He (the Imam) said, ‘If his father owed the freeing of a slave for optional reasons and his father had commanded him to free for him a soul, then the guardianship of freed man belongs to all heirs of the deceased of the male ones.’ He (the Imam) said, ‘The one who buys and frees him because of the command of his father is like one of the heirs; if the freed does not have any relative among the Muslims who are free to inherit him.’ He (the Imam) said, ‘If his son buys the slave and frees for his father from his asset after his father, optionally on his behalf without any command from his father, then guardianship and legacy belongs to the one who bought the slave from his asset to be freed who freed him for his father. This applies only when the freed one has not left behind any relatives.’”