The Book of Manumission of Slaves

Harun ibn ʿAbd Allah narrated to us: Abu Badr narrated to us: Abu ʿUtbah—Ismaʿil ibn ʿAyyash—narrated to me: Sulayman ibn Sulaym narrated to me, from ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb, from his father, from his grandfather, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said: “A mukatab remains a slave as long as even one dirham remains due from his emancipation contract.”

Muhammad ibn al-Muthanna narrated to us: ʿAbd al-Samad narrated to me: Hammam narrated to us: ʿAbbas al-Jurayri narrated to us, from ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb, from his father, from his grandfather, that the Prophet ﷺ said: ‘Any slave who enters into a contract of manumission for one hundred uqiyyahs and pays all but ten uqiyyahs remains a slave; and any slave who enters into a contract for one hundred dinars and pays all but ten dinars remains a slave.’ Abu Dawud said: This is not ʿAbbas al-Jurayri. They said that this was a mistake; rather, it was another shaykh.

Musaddad narrated to us: Sufyan narrated to us, from al-Zuhri, from Nabhan, the mukatab of Umm Salamah, who said: I heard Umm Salamah say: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to us: ‘If one of you has a mukatab [a slave under a contract of manumission] who has enough to pay, let her veil herself from him.’

ʿAbd Allah ibn Maslamah and Qutaybah ibn Saʿid narrated to us; they said: al-Layth narrated to us, from Ibn Shihab, from ʿUrwah, that ʿAishah, may Allah be pleased with her, told him: Barirah came to ʿAishah seeking her help with her manumission contract, having paid none of it. ʿAishah said to her: ‘Go back to your people. If they agree that I pay your contract on your behalf and your walaʾ [the bond of clientage arising from manumission] be mine, I will do so.’ Barirah told her people, but they refused and said: ‘If she wishes to count it as a charitable act for you, she may, but your walaʾ will belong to us.’ Barirah told the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He said to her: ‘Buy her and set her free, for walaʾ belongs only to the one who sets a person free.’ Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood and said: ‘What is wrong with people who stipulate conditions that are not in the Book of Allah? Whoever stipulates a condition that is not in the Book of Allah has no right to it, even if he stipulates it a hundred times. Allah’s condition is more rightful and binding.’

Musa ibn Ismaʿil narrated to us: Wuhaib narrated to us, from Hisham ibn ʿUrwah, from his father, from ʿAishah, may Allah be pleased with her, who said: Barirah came seeking help with her manumission contract. She said: ‘I have contracted with my people to pay nine uqiyyahs, one uqiyyah each year, so help me.’ ʿAishah said: ‘If your people agree that I pay it all in one payment and set you free, with your walaʾ belonging to me, I will do so.’ She went to her people, and he related the hadith along the lines of al-Zuhri’s narration. He added these words at the end of the Prophet’s ﷺ speech: ‘What is the matter with men, one of whom says: Set so-and-so free, but the walaʾ belongs to me? Walaʾ belongs only to the one who sets a person free.’

ʿAbd al-ʿAziz ibn Yahya Abu al-Asbagh al-Harrani narrated to us: Muhammad—meaning Ibn Salamah—narrated to me, from Ibn Ishaq, from Muhammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zubayr, from ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr, from ʿAishah, may Allah be pleased with her, who said: Juwayriyah daughter of al-Harith ibn al-Mustaliq fell to the share of Thabit ibn Qays ibn Shammas, or a cousin of his, and she made a contract for her own freedom. She was a beautiful woman who readily caught the eye. ʿAishah said: She came to ask the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for help with her contract. When she stood at the door and I saw her, I disliked her being there, knowing that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would see in her what I had seen. She said: ‘Messenger of Allah, I am Juwayriyah daughter of al-Harith. You know what has happened to me. I fell to the share of Thabit ibn Qays ibn Shammas, and I have contracted for my freedom. I have come to ask your help with my contract.’ The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: ‘Would you like something better than that?’ She asked: ‘What is it, Messenger of Allah?’ He said: ‘I will pay your contract for you and marry you.’ She said: ‘I accept.’ People heard that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had married Juwayriyah, so they released the captives they held, saying: ‘They are the Messenger of Allah’s in-laws.’ We knew of no woman who brought greater blessing to her people than she did: a hundred households of Banu al-Mustaliq were freed because of her. Abu Dawud said: This is evidence that the guardian himself gives the woman in marriage.

Musaddad ibn Musarhad narrated to us: ʿAbd al-Warith narrated to us, from Saʿid ibn Jumhan, from Safinah, who said: I was enslaved by Umm Salamah. She said: ‘I will set you free on condition that you serve the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for as long as you live.’ I said: ‘If you had not made that condition on me, I would never have left the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for as long as I lived.’ So she freed me and imposed that condition on me.

Abu al-Walid al-Tayalisi narrated to us: Hammam narrated to us. And Muhammad ibn Kathir narrated to us—the wording is his—: Hammam informed us, from Qatadah, from Abu al-Malih. Abu al-Walid said: from his father, that a man freed his share of a slave, and this was mentioned to the Prophet ﷺ. He said: ‘There is no partner to Allah.’ Ibn Kathir added in his version: The Prophet ﷺ approved his manumission.

Muhammad ibn Kathir narrated to us: Hammam informed us, from Qatadah, from al-Nadr ibn Anas, from Bashir ibn Nahik, from Abu Hurayrah, that a man freed his share of a slave. The Prophet ﷺ approved his manumission and charged him with paying the remainder of the slave’s price.

Muhammad ibn al-Muthanna narrated to us: Muhammad ibn Jaʿfar narrated to us. And Ahmad ibn ʿAli ibn Suwayd narrated to us: Rawh narrated to us. Both said: Shuʿbah narrated to us, from Qatadah, with this chain, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said: ‘Whoever frees a slave shared between himself and another person must secure the slave’s complete freedom.’ This is the wording of Ibn Suwayd.

Ibn al-Muthanna narrated to us: Muʿadh ibn Hisham narrated to us: my father narrated to me. And Ahmad ibn ʿAli ibn Suwayd narrated to us: Rawh narrated to us: Hisham ibn Abi ʿAbd Allah narrated to us, from Qatadah, with this chain, that the Prophet ﷺ said: ‘Whoever frees his share in an enslaved person, that person is freed from his wealth if he has wealth.’ Ibn al-Muthanna did not mention al-Nadr ibn Anas. This is the wording of Ibn Suwayd.

Muslim ibn Ibrahim narrated to us: Aban—the perfumer—narrated to us: Qatadah narrated to us, from al-Nadr ibn Anas, from Bashir ibn Nahik, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘Whoever frees a share in a slave must free him entirely if he has wealth. If he does not, the slave is to work to pay for himself, without being overburdened.’

Nasr ibn ʿAli informed us: Yazid—meaning Ibn Zurayʿ—narrated to us. And ʿAli ibn ʿAbd Allah narrated to us: Muhammad ibn Bishr narrated to us—and this is his wording—from Saʿid ibn Abi ʿArubah, from Qatadah, from al-Nadr ibn Anas, from Bashir ibn Nahik, from Abu Hurayrah, from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who said: ‘Whoever frees a share—or a portion—in an enslaved person must secure the person’s freedom from his wealth if he has wealth. If he has no wealth, the slave is to be valued fairly, then made to work to pay his share of the price, without being overburdened.’ Abu Dawud said that both their versions have the wording: ‘He was made to work, without being overburdened.’ This is the wording of ʿAli.

Muhammad ibn Bashshar narrated to us: Yahya and Ibn Abi ʿAdi narrated to us, from Saʿid, with its chain and meaning. Abu Dawud said: Rawh ibn ʿUbadah narrated it from Saʿid ibn Abi ʿArubah without mentioning that the slave was to work to pay the price. Jarir ibn Hazim and Musa ibn Khalaf both narrated it from Qatadah, with the chain and meaning of Yazid ibn Zurayʿ, and both mentioned that arrangement.

Al-Qaʿnabi narrated to us, from Malik, from Nafiʿ, from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: ‘Whoever frees his share in an enslaved person, a fair valuation is made, and he pays his partners their shares; then the slave is freed completely. Otherwise, only the portion freed by him is free.’

Muʾammal narrated to us: Ismaʿil narrated to us, from Ayyub, from Nafiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar, from the Prophet ﷺ, with the same meaning. He said: Nafiʿ would sometimes say, ‘Otherwise, only the portion freed by him is free,’ and sometimes he would not say it.

Sulayman ibn Dawud narrated to us: Hammad narrated to us, from Ayyub, from Nafiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar, from the Prophet ﷺ, with this hadith. Ayyub said: I do not know whether the words ‘otherwise, only the portion freed by him is free’ are part of the Prophet’s ﷺ hadith or something Nafiʿ said.

Ibrahim ibn Musa al-Razi informed us: ʿIsa ibn Yunus informed us: ʿUbayd Allah narrated to us, from Nafiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: ‘Whoever frees a share of a slave must free him entirely if he has enough wealth to cover his price. If he has no wealth, only his share is freed.’

Makhlad ibn Khalid narrated to us: Yazid ibn Harun narrated to us: Yahya ibn Saʿid informed us, from Nafiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar, from the Prophet ﷺ, with the meaning of Ibrahim ibn Musa’s narration.