[Explanation]
The author—may Allah have mercy on him—says in his work Riyad al-Salihin: “Chapter on the Excellence of Manumission.”
Manumission (ʿitq) is the freeing of a slave. That is: a person owns another human being, then sets him free purely for the sake of Allah. Such an act ranks among the very best of deeds. Allah the Exalted says:
“But he did not brave the steep ascent. And what will make you know what the steep ascent is? It is the freeing of a neck, or feeding on a day of hunger an orphan of near kin or a needy person in distress” (Q 90:11-16).
“To brave the steep ascent” means to reach its summit despite the hardship; “the ascent” is an uphill path, and climbing steep hills is known to be demanding and arduous. Likewise, freeing slaves weighs heavily on the soul, for it entails surrendering ownership of one’s property, and that is difficult.
The phrase “the freeing of a neck” includes both manumission and ransoming captives from the enemy, for that too is a form of freeing necks. Thus the verse proves the virtue of setting slaves free.
The author then cited the Prophetic report stating that whoever emancipates a slave, Allah will spare from the Fire, limb for limb—even the private part for the private part. In other words, if you set a slave free, Allah will deliver your whole body from Hell because you freed that person from bondage.
Next, he turned to the merit of kindness toward slaves, introducing it with Allah’s words: “Worship Allah and associate nothing with Him.”
“Worship Allah” means obey Him; worship is to comply with His commands and avoid His prohibitions. That, and nothing else, is the very purpose for which human beings and jinn were created, as He said: “I did not create jinn and mankind except to worship Me” (Q 51:56). We were not created merely to eat, drink, dress, dwell and enjoy ourselves; these are means, while the ultimate goal is worship. Whoever does not worship Allah, or worships Him while associating others with Him, or worships no one at all, ruins both his religion and his worldly life, for he has squandered the very reason for his creation.
His statement “and associate nothing with Him” is unrestricted: the word “nothing” occurs in a context of prohibition and therefore covers everything. Never associate anyone with Allah in worship—not the Messenger, not Gabriel, not a saint, a friend, or a martyr. Worship Allah alone without partner. Whoever associates anything with Allah in major shirk is told by Allah: “Whoever associates partners with Allah, Allah has forbidden Paradise to him, and his refuge is the Fire; and the wrongdoers will have no helpers” (Q 5:72).
An example is someone who goes to a grave, prostrates to it or calls upon its occupant, saying, “O master, rescue me; grant me a child, a spouse, wealth.” This is major shirk that expels a person from the religion, even if he fasts, gives charity, prays, recites the Quran and makes the pilgrimage. So long as he persists in that shirk, he will never enter Paradise; it is forbidden to him, and his abode is the Fire, for he has associated partners with Allah.
Allah continues: “Worship Allah and associate nothing with Him, and show kindness to parents, relatives…” (Q 4:36). He does not explicitly mention the right of the Prophet ﷺ, even though the Prophet’s right outweighs that of one’s parents and one is required to love him more than oneself, one’s child and one’s father. The scholars explain that the Prophet’s right is subsumed under the right of Allah, for Allah cannot be worshipped properly except through following His Messenger. Whoever fails to make his worship purely for Allah in sincerity and for the Messenger in imitation has no true worship; hence the specific mention of the Prophet’s right was unnecessary, being included in the right of Allah.
The phrase “parents” includes both mother and father, and “kindness” means beneficence of every kind: giving them money if they are poor and in need—or even if they are not, by providing them with extras that show affection; serving them physically—if your father sends you on an errand, go, or if he says “wait for so-and-so,” then wait; and using your social standing. If a son has influence with people or government and his father needs that influence, part of kindness is to employ it for him, and the same applies to the mother. In short, kindness here covers everything that is counted as kindness. Further discussion of the verse and the following hadiths will come later.
Chapter on the Excellence of an Owned Slave Who Discharges the Rights of Allah and of His Masters
1362 – Ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “When a servant is sincere toward his master and perfects the worship of Allah, he will receive his reward twice.” Agreed upon.
1363 – Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “A righteous owned servant will have a double reward. By Him in Whose hand is the soul of Abu Hurayrah, were it not for striving in Allah’s path, the pilgrimage, and dutifulness to my mother, I would have loved to die while still a slave.” Agreed upon.
1364 – Abu Musa al-Ashʿari (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “The slave who excels in worshipping his Lord and fulfils the rights, good counsel and obedience he owes to his master will be granted a double reward.” Narrated by al-Bukhari.
1365 – Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him) also reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Three kinds of people will receive a double reward: a person from the People of the Book who believed in his own Prophet and then believed in Muhammad; a slave who fulfils the rights of Allah and the rights of his masters; and a man who owned a slave-girl, trained her well, taught her well, then set her free and married her—he will have a double reward.” Agreed upon.
[Explanation]
The author places this chapter within the larger discussion on the virtue of manumission to show, through the hadiths, that when a slave fulfils the rights of Allah and the rights of his master, he is granted two rewards: one for satisfying Allah’s claim—such as the prescribed prayers, fasting and other acts of worship not based on financial expenditure—and another for satisfying his master’s claim, namely serving him and the like. Discharging both sets of duties earns him a double reward.
In the last hadith the Prophet ﷺ mentioned three who receive a double reward. First, a member of the People of the Book—Jew or Christian—who believed in his own Prophet and then believed in Muhammad ﷺ; he gains one reward for believing in his Prophet and a second for believing in Muhammad. Be aware that if Jews or Christians receive the message of Muhammad ﷺ yet do not believe in him, their deeds become void, even the religious acts they practise within their own faiths, for Allah says: “Whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted from him, and in the Hereafter he will be among the losers” (Q 3:85).
The second is an owned slave who fulfils the rights of his master and of Allah the Exalted.
The third is a man who owns a slave-girl: he disciplines her well, teaches her well, then sets her free and marries her. He will have two rewards—the first for his kindness to her while she was still a slave, and the second for his kindness after freeing her, for he did not abandon her but married her, provided for her and safeguarded her chastity. Allah is the One who grants success.