إذا قال لعبده وهو أكبر سنا منه: هذا ابني
Suppose an owner says of an enslaved person older than himself, “This is my son.”
Given the ages, actual fatherhood is impossible. The legal-theoretical question is then whether a figurative meaning can generate a consequence such as manumission when the direct sense cannot hold.
The discussion assigns to Abu Hanifa room for figurative transfer and the resulting legal consequence, whereas the two companions do not derive that consequence in the same way from this impossible literal assertion. The disagreement concerns the validity and legal effect of figurative usage, not merely the physical fact that the slave is older.