1236 – Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “No child can ever repay his father unless he finds him in bondage, buys him, and then sets him free.” Narrated by Muslim (1).
Vocabulary
– “lā yajzī”: from jazāhu – yajzīhi – jazāʾan, meaning “to recompense or reward.”
Points of Benefit
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Allah, exalted is He, has exalted the rights of parents in His Book and on the tongue of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). He says, “Be grateful to Me and to your parents” (Luqmān 14); “Show kindness to parents” (Isrāʾ 23); and “We have enjoined upon man to treat his parents with excellence” (Aḥqāf 15). Many ḥadiths teach the same lesson, among them the report in al-Bukhārī (527) and Muslim (85) from Ibn Masʿūd who said, “I asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, which deed is best?’ He replied, ‘Prayer at its proper time.’ I asked, ‘Then what?’ He said, ‘Kindness to parents.’” The ḥadith before us conveys the same message.
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The narration shows that one of the finest acts of filial devotion—toward both parents or even just one of them—is to find one’s father or mother enslaved, purchase the parent, and emancipate him or her. In doing so, the child delivers the parent from bondage, a state that deprives a person of liberty, self-determination, and the right to earn.
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Freeing one’s father or mother is, in effect, a repayment for their kindness, for they were the cause of the child’s coming into existence. By liberating one or both of them, it is as though the child brings them out of non-existence into existence, since a slave’s labor and earnings belong to his owner