Emancipation

The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said:, “If anyone emancipates a Muslim slave, God will set free from hell a member of the body for every member of his, even his private parts for his.”

Al-Bara ibn Azib told of a desert Arab who came to the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and said, “Teach me an action which will bring me into paradise.” He replied, “You have asked a large question in few words. Emancipate, a man and set free a slave.”

He asked if the two were not the same thing, and he replied, “No; emancipating a man is doing it by yourself, and setting free a slave is contributing towards his price. You must also lend for milking a she-camel which has much milk and be well disposed towards a relative who does wrong. If you cannot do that, feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, recommend what is reputable and forbid what is disreputable.

And if you cannot do that, restrain your tongue from everything but what is good.” Baihaqi transmitted it in Shuab al-iman.

Amr ibn Abasa reported the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) as saying, “If anyone builds a mosque that God may be mentioned in it, a house will be built for him in paradise; if anyone emancipates a Muslim, that will be his ransom from jahannam; if anyone develops a grey hair while in ‘God’s path, it will be a light for him on the day of resurrection.’ It is transmitted in Sharh as-sunna.”

We went to Wathila b. al-Asqa and said, “Tell us a tradition which has no addition or omission.” He replied angrily, “One of you recites when his copy of the Qur’an is hung up in his house, and he makes additions and omissions.” We declared that all we meant was a tradition he had heard from the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), and he said they had gone to God’s Messenger about a friend of theirs who deserved (i.e., hell) for murder, 2 and he replied, “If you emancipate a slave on his behalf God will set free from hell a member of the body for every member of his.” Abu Dawud and Nasai transmitted it. 1.

Mirqat, iii, 540 gives al-Gharif ad-Dailami but says it should correctly be Ibn ad-Dailami. It adds that Hakim in his Mustadrak says al-Gharif was a laqab of Abdallah b. ad-Dailami, and that in Jami-al-usul the name is given as al-Gharif ibn Ayyash ad-Dailami. This is the form in the Damascus edn. of the Mishkat, the one used in the translation above.

It is also given by Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib, viii, 245. 2. Mirqat, iii, 541 suggests that the reference may be to someone who had killed a man unintentionally.

Samurah ibn Jundub reported God’s Messenger as saying, “The most excellent sadaqa is intercession for which a slave is set free.” Baihaqi transmitted it in Shuab al-iman.

Ibn Umar reported God’s Messenger as saying, “If anyone emancipates his share in a slave and has enough money to pay the full price for him, a fair price for the slave should be fixed, his partners given their shares, and the slave be thus emancipated; otherwise he is emancipated only to the extent of the first man’s share.”

The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said:, “If anyone emancipates a share in a slave, he is to be completely emancipated if he has money; but if he has none, the slave will be required to work to pay for his freedom, but must not be overburdened.”

A man who had no other property emancipated six slaves of his at the time of his death. God’s Messenger called for them, and after dividing them into three sections, casting lots among them, setting two free and keeping four in slavery,* he spoke severely of him. Nasai transmitted it on Imran’s authority, but in place of “he spoke severely of him,” he mentioned that the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said, “I was inclined not to pray over him.”

In Abu Dawud’s version he said, “Had I been present before his burial, he would not have been buried in a Muslim cemetery.” Muslim transmitted it. *The principle is that at least two-thirds of a dead man’s property must go to the heirs.

The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said:, “A son does not repay what he owes his father unless he buys him and emancipates him if he finds him in slavery.”

if anything is left over give it to your family; if anything is left over when they have received something, give it to your relatives; and if anything is left over when they have received something, do thus and thus, meaning that it should be distributed in front of him, on his right and on his left.

Al-Hasan, on Samurah’s authority, reported God’s Messenger as saying, “If anyone gets possession of a relative who is within the prohibited degrees, that person becomes free.”

The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said:, “When a man’s slave-woman bears him a child she becomes free at his death.”* Darimi transmitted it. * The text has ‘au durbur in minhu au badahu’ indicating a doubt on the part of a transmitter as to which words were used. Both expressions amount to the same thing so it seems sufficient to give “at his death” in the translation above.

In the time of God’s Messenger and of Abu Bakr we sold slave women who had borne children, but when Umar was in power he forbade us to do so and we stopped.

Ibn Umar reported God’s Messenger as saying, “If anyone emancipates a slave who owns property he gets the slave’s property, unless the master stipulates otherwise.”

Abul Malih told on his father’s authority that when a man emancipated a share in a slave, and the matter was mentioned to the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) he said, “God has no partner,” and decided chat he should be emancipated.

I was a slave of Umm Salamah, and she said, “I shall emancipate you, but I stipulate that you must serve God’s Messenger as long as you live” I replied, “Even if you do not make a stipulation with me I shall not leave God’s Messenger as long as I live”. She then emancipated me and made the stipulation with me.

Amr ibn Shuaib, on his father’s authority, told that this grandfather reported the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) as saying, “A slave who has entered into an agreement to purchase his freedom is a slave as long as a dirham of the agreed price remains to be paid.”

Umm Salamah reported God’s Messenger as spying, “When a slave of one of you women has made an agreement to purchase his freedom and can pay the full price, she must veil herself from him.”

Amr ibn Shuaib, on his father’s authority, told that his grandfather reported God’s Messenger as saying, “If anyone has agreed to let his slave buy his freedom for a hundred uqiyas and he pays them all but ten (or he said, ten dinars), and he is then unable to complete the amount, he remains a slave.”

The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said:, “When a slave who has made an agreement to purchase his freedom gets blood-money or an inheritance, he can inherit in accordance with the extent to which he has been emancipated.” In a version by Tirmidhi he said, “Blood wit is paid for a slave who has made an agreement to purchase his freedom at the rate paid for a freeman so far as he has paid the purchase money, and at the rate paid for a slave so far as the remainder is concerned,” but he declared it to be weak.

Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abu Amra al-Ansari told that his mother had intended to emancipate a slave, but she postponed it till the morning, and she died. Abd ar-Rahman said he asked al-Qasim ibn Muhammad whether it would benefit her if he emancipated the slave on her behalf, and al-Qasim told him that Sad ibn Ubada had gone to God’s Messenger saying his mother had died and asking whether it would benefit her if he set free a slave on her behalf, and that God’s Messenger had replied that it would.

Yahya ibn Said told that Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abu Bakr died in his sleep and that his sister Aishah emancipated many slaves on his behalf.

Abdallah ibn Umar reported God’s Messenger as saying, “If anyone buys a slave and makes no stipulation about his property, he gets none of it.”