1242 – Jābir (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: “A man from the Anṣār emancipated a slave of his ʿan dubur—that is, the emancipation was to take effect after the owner’s death—and he owned no other property. When this reached the Prophet ﷺ he said, ‘Who will buy him from me?’ Nuʿaym ibn ʿAbd Allāh purchased him for 800 dirhams.” Agreed upon.

In another wording of al-Bukhārī: “because the man was in need.”

In the narration of al-Nasāʾī: “He was in debt, so the Prophet sold the slave for 800 dirhams, handed the price to him, and said, ‘Settle your debt.’ (1)

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Glossary of the ḥadīth
• “A man”: Muslim records, “a man from the Anṣār”; another of his narrations adds, “he belonged to Banū ʿUdhrah.” His name was Abū Madhkūr, as al-Dhahabī states.
• “A slave of his”: His name was Yaʿqūb.
• “ʿan dubur”: both the dāl and the bāʾ are vocalised with ḍammah; literally “from the rear,” the opposite of “the front.” Here it means that the emancipation was conditioned upon the owner’s death.
• “Nuʿaym”: with a ḍammah on the nūn; the diminutive form of Niʿm. He was Nuʿaym ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Nahhām al-Qurashī al-ʿAdawī.

Lessons derived from the ḥadīth
1 – A man from the Anṣār linked his slave’s emancipation to his own death while owning no other wealth. When this reached the Prophet ﷺ, he considered such manumission negligent and self-detrimental; so he revoked it, sold the slave for 800 dirhams, and sent the proceeds to the man, for providing for oneself and one’s dependants takes priority and is better.