ahya related to me from Malik that he asked Ibn Shihab about the dhihar of a slave. He said, "It is like the dhihar of a free man". Malik said, "He meant that the same conditions were applied in both cases". Malik said, "The dhihar of the slave is incumbent on him, and the fasting of the slave in the dhihar is two months". Malik said that there was no ila for a slave who pronounced a dhihar from his wife. That was because if he were to fast the kaffara for pronouncing a dhihar, the divorce of the ila would come to him before he had finished the fast.
This hadith teaches us about how serious our words are and how we should think carefully before speaking them out loud because we may not be able to take them back once said. It also teaches us about responsibility and accountability; even though slaves may have fewer rights than free people, they still have responsibilities towards Allah which must be fulfilled just like everyone else does.
