Classical Sunni law insists that all freed persons maintain a tie of clientage, or wal?', with their former masters—such clients are known as maw?l? (m.) and mawl?t (f.). While early Islamic lawyers considered wal?' to be a vestige of slavery, classical lawyers instead considered it to be a form of kinship that permanently tied the freed person to the former master's family. The patron was responsible for protecting his client and paying the fine for any crime his client might commit; in return for this protection, the patron had a right to inherit some of his client's estate. In addition, the maw?l? and mawl?t provided many forms of service not stipulated in Islamic law, including acting as business agents, messengers, water-carriers, scribes, entertainers, wet-nurses, and personal bodyguards. Previous scholars have viewed the maw?l? as severely unequal and dependent members of their patrons' households, inhabiting a position barely different from their former enslavement. This paper challenges that view by analyzing the early Islamic maw?l? (ca. 600–850 CE) on a continuum of freedom/unfreedom. Using early Islamic texts such as the treaty of Tiflis, accounts of al-Mukhtar's rebellion, al-Jahiz's al-Risala fi al-Nabita, and al-Isfahani's Kitab al-Aghani, this paper this paper shows how early Islamic maw?l?'s lives changed as a result of their manumission. It analyzes situations in which maw?l?/mawl?t exercised their agency in their own individual interests, and when they instead practiced "inter-agency"— making choices that served the greater needs of their extended households. Additionally, this paper juxtaposes the notion of individual "freedom" with competing notions such as loyalty, community, family, marriage, gender, and ethnicity. By placing the maw?l? on a continuum of freedom/unfreedom, scholars are better equipped to understand the difference between maw?l? and other subordinated groups such as slaves, serfs, and dhimm?s.