وَعَن عليّ
أَنَّهُ جَاءَهُ مُكَاتَبٌ فَقَالَ: إِنِّي عَجَزْتُ عَنْ كتابي فَأَعِنِّي قَالَ: أَلَا أُعَلِّمُكَ كَلِمَاتٍ عَلَّمَنِيهِنَّ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ لَوْ كَانَ عَلَيْكَ مِثْلُ جَبَلٍ كَبِيرٍ دَيْنًا أَدَّاهُ اللَّهُ عَنْكَ. قُلْ: «اللَّهُمَّ اكْفِنِي بِحَلَالِكَ عَنْ حَرَامِكَ وَأَغْنِنِي بِفَضْلِكَ عَمَّنْ سِوَاكَ»
Ali told of a slave who had made a contract with his master to pay for his freedom coming to him and saying, “I am unable to fulfill my contract,* so give me help.” He suggested teaching him words he had been taught by God’s messenger, which would be so effective that if he had a debt as large as a huge mountain God would pay it for him, telling him to say, “O God, grant me enough of what Thou makest lawful so that I may dispense with what Thou makest unlawful, and make me able by Thy grace to dispense with all but Thee.” 1.
Mukatab. Although the term comes from the root meaning to write, the contract was not necessarily written. *Kitabati. While the word properly refers to something written, it is used for a contract whether written or not. Tirmidhi and Baihaqi, in ad-Daawat al-kabir, transmitted it.