In the social world of Iraq, some slaves did not want to be free. Take for example cases whereby a married, non-Muslim slave couple dies, leaving a prepubescent child or children without anyone to care for them. If the child or children are fostered to a Muslim family, then they adopt the religious disposition (fi?rah) of that family, resulting in their complete, immediate freedom. Some of these children, however, wanted to recover their non-Muslim religious heritage, an illegal act since it is equivalent to apostatizing. Likewise, prepubescent children who confessed Islam before puberty (7-14 years old) would be considered Muslims when they reached puberty, enslaving them for like to a childhood decision. The only exception for this was for children who converted without appropriate knowledge of Islam. In the case of a child fostered to Muslim parents, he unwillingly forfeits his right to reclaim his non-Muslim heritage, thus becoming enslaved to his newly acquired freedom. In the case of a child who converts at a pre-pubescent age, he willingly forfeits his right to reclaim his non-Muslim heritage, thus becoming enslaved to his childhood decision. There are examples of these situations in the earliest Arabic legal text—an early ?anbal? text—to exclusively categorize non-Muslims by topic entitled Non-Muslim Religious Communities. It is argued that these cases were common or frequent enough to warrant the ruling of A?mad b. ?anbal. This paper works to address the issue of unwanted freedom, conceived of in terms of parent-child relationships and dependencies. It seeks to uncover some of the different factors that contributed to shed the chains of freedom for secondary status, working to explain the parities that may have enabled the decision. For example, what were the consequences of a child converting to Islam but remaining dependent upon non-Muslim parents or a family network for basic needs, work, or food? What was social life like for parents with Muslim children and other intermixed families? What were the benefits, risks, and rewards of conversion for prepubescent children? Was life so different for non-Muslims? The answers are not always clear, but the issue of unwanted freedom is a topic that should be included in discussion on the institution of slavery and freedom in the Islamic world.