and a slave who fulfills the right due to his Lord, exalted is He, and the right due to his masters; and a man who believes in his Scripture and in Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.”

It was recorded by al-Bukhari (1/154 and 6/109), in al-Adab al-Mufrad (31), Muslim (1/93), al-Nasa’i (2/87), al-Tirmidhi (1/208, Bulaq edition), who authenticated it, al-Darimi (2/154–155), al-Tayalisi, no. 520, Sa‘id ibn Mansur in his Sunan (913 and 914), Ahmad (4/402 and 405), and al-Tabarani in al-Saghir (p. 22, Hind edition), through several routes from al-Sha‘bi, from Abu Burdah ibn Abi Musa al-Ash‘ari, from his father, attributed to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, with this wording.

Al-Sha‘bi said: “Take it freely; even if you had to travel to Kerman for it, that would be a small matter.” This is Ahmad’s wording. Muslim and others added at its beginning, through Salih ibn Salih al-Hamdani, who said: “I saw a man from the people of Khurasan ask al-Sha‘bi, saying: ‘O Abu ‘Amr, the people in our land—the people of Khurasan—say that if a man emancipates his slave-girl and then marries her, he is like one who rides his sacrificial camel.’ Al-Sha‘bi replied: ‘Abu Burdah narrated to me …’”

It has also been narrated, in both complete and abridged forms, with other wordings. See: “When a man emancipates …,” “Any man who has …,” “For the slave who does well …,” and “Whoever has a slave-girl …” Some portions of it have supporting narrations; consult: “When the slave fulfills …” and “Whoever among the People of the Book embraces Islam …”

Two notes: First, most narrations use the word ama (female slave), which is the version reported by al-Bukhari, Muslim, Ahmad, and others. In one narration of al-Bukhari and others, it is jariyah (slave-girl); in another of his narrations, it is walidah (slave-girl). Al-Hafiz said in Fath al-Bari (9/103): “That is, ama. Originally, it denoted one born to a man’s slave women, but it was then extended to every female slave.”