The Book of Emancipation (ʿItq)
Introduction
The word ʿitq is pronounced with a short vowel on the ʿayn and a silent tāʾ. One says: ʿataqa al-ʿabdu—patterned after ḍaraba—ʿitqan, ʿitāqan, or ʿitāqah; such a person is then called ʿatīq (emancipated).
Linguistically, ʿitq denotes release, freedom, and removal from ownership.
Al-Azharī explains that it derives from their saying ʿataqa al-farasu, when a horse outruns and escapes, or ʿataqa al-farkh, when a fledgling flies off on its own. In the same way, a slave, once emancipated, becomes free to go wherever he wishes. The root therefore comes to signify nobility and everything connected to it; hence one says farasun ʿatīq rāʾiʿ, “a splendid, noble horse,” and ʿitāqu al-ṭayr, “the choicest of birds.”
In the Sharīʿah, ʿitq means freeing a human being from enslavement and affirming his or her liberty.
Its legitimacy rests on the Quran, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the Muslim community.
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The Quran: for example, “then the freeing of a believing slave” (al-Nisāʾ 4:92).
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The Sunnah: the reports are exceedingly numerous. Among them is what al-Bukhārī records (6715) and Muslim (1509) from Abū Hurayrah, that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever emancipates a Muslim slave, Allah will set free— for every limb of that slave—a corresponding limb of his from the Fire, even his private parts.” Additional narrations on the subject will follow.
The entire ummah is unanimously agreed that emancipation is valid and that it is a meritorious act of worship.
There are two discussions ahead: