“Do not ruin the property,” they pleaded, “for it will belong either to us or to you!”

ʿUrwah relates: The Messenger of God ﷺ ordered every Muslim to cut down five palm-trees or five lengths of vine, and he sent a herald to proclaim, “Whoever comes out to us shall be free.” A number of them slipped out to him—among them Abū Bakrah ibn Masrūḥ, the maternal brother of Ziyād ibn Abī Sufyān. The Prophet ﷺ emancipated them and placed each man with a Muslim who would support and transport him.

Imām Aḥmad (1) reports, through Yazīd, Ḥajjāj, al-Ḥakam, and Miqsam, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that the Messenger of God ﷺ used to set free any slave who reached him before his master if the slave had embraced Islam, and that on the day of al-Ṭāʾif he emancipated two such men.

Aḥmad (2) likewise transmits, through ʿAbd al-Quddūs ibn Bakr ibn Khunays, Ḥajjāj, al-Ḥakam, and Miqsam, from Ibn ʿAbbās: “The Messenger of God ﷺ besieged the people of al-Ṭāʾif. Two slaves came out to him and he set them free, one of them Abū Bakrah. Whenever slaves came out to him, the Prophet ﷺ would emancipate them.”

Aḥmad (3) further reports, through Naṣr ibn Bāb, Ḥajjāj, al-Ḥakam, and Miqsam, from Ibn ʿAbbās, that the Messenger of God ﷺ declared on the day of al-Ṭāʾif: “Whoever comes out to us from among the slaves is free.” Some slaves did come out—Abū Bakrah among them—and the Prophet ﷺ emancipated them. This ḥadīth is unique to Aḥmad and its chain revolves around Ḥajjāj ibn Arṭāh, who is weak; nevertheless, Imām Aḥmad adopted its ruling, holding that every slave who passes from the Abode of War into the Abode of Islam is automatically freed, an unrestricted and universal legal judgment.

Others held that this was merely a special stipulation, not a general ordinance; even were the report sound, they argued, a universal legislation would be clearer—just as in his ﷺ statement: “Whoever kills an enemy combatant, his spoils belong to him.” (4)

Yūnus ibn Bukayr relates from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq (5): ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mukaddam al-Thaqafī told me that when the Messenger of God ﷺ was besieging the people of al-Ṭāʾif, a number of their slaves came out to him—Abū Bakrah, who had belonged to al-Ḥārith ibn Kaladah; al-Munbaʿith, whose name had been al-Muḍṭajiʿ but whom the Prophet ﷺ renamed al-Munbaʿith; Yuḥannas; Wardān; and others. They accepted Islam. Later, when the delegation of al-Ṭāʾif arrived and embraced Islam, they said, “Messenger of God, return to us the slaves who came to you.” He replied, “No. They are the freedmen of God.” He did, however, restore to that man the right of client-protection (walāʾ) over his slave.

Al-Bukhārī (6) reports: Muḥammad ibn Bashshār told us, Ghundar told us, Shuʿbah from ʿĀṣim, who said: I heard Abū ʿUthmān say—