Download PDF: [S] He Freed Hundreds of Slaves

Hadrat Sayyiduna Shabeeb bin Shaybah Al Khateeb – may Allah be pleased with him – narrates that, “One day we were travelling to Mecca Shareef and stopped on one of the plains to rest and eat. We placed the cloth of the floor and also placed the food. The weather was extremely hot. There was a hot wind blowing and the ground was burning like hot brass. As we began to eat, suddenly a Bedouin walked past with his Habshi female slave. We asked him to join us for food but he replied that he was fasting. We were extremely surprised at this answer that a person would be fasting in such intense heat and that too a Nafil fast. The Bedouin then asked us, “Is there any among you who is a Qari of the Qur’an and also someone who can record a certain contract for me.”

 

After we finished eating, we then asked him what he wanted recorded. He replied, “My dear brothers, there is no doubt that this world existed before me and will continue to exist even after I have left this world and it will remain for a certain period even though I will not be here. I hereby wish for the Divine Pleasure of Allah to free this female slave of mine for the Day of Uqbah. The Allah Almighty has stated in the Surah Balad, verse 11 to 13:

 

فَلَا اقْتَحَمَ الْعَقَبَۃَ ﴿۱۱﴾۫ۖ وَ مَاۤ اَدْرٰىکَ مَا الْعَقَبَۃُ ﴿ؕ۱۲﴾ فَکُّ رَقَبَۃٍ ﴿ۙ۱۳﴾

So he did not quickly enter the valley. And what have you understood, what the valley is!

The freeing of a slave!

 

“Therefore, my intention is to free this female slave for the Divine Pleasure of Allah for the day of Uqbah. Therefore, please write down what I dictate and besides what I dictate, do not record anything else.”

 

He then dictated what he wanted and it read, “This is my female slave and I have freed her for the Divine Pleasure of Allah for the occasion of the Day of Uqbah.” After this, he took away the recording and continued on his way.

 

Hadrat Sayyiduna Shabeeb – may Allah be pleased with him – mentions, “Thereafter we returned to Basrah and I met Hadrat Sayyiduna Mehdi – may Allah be pleased with him – and I mentioned the incident about the black female slave and the Bedouin. When he heard this story, he said to me, “In this manner, this Bedouin had actually freed nearly a hundred of his slaves and whenever he frees one of his slaves, he always finds someone to record this and keeps this with him and then frees the slave.” (Uyunul Hikaayah)