Freeing of Slaves (Hazrat Musleh Mau’d’s (ra) Narration)

Narration 1

Among the slaves who were freed by Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) was Hazrat Khabbab (ra) bin al-Aratt. Whilst mentioning Hazrat Khabbab (ra) bin al-Aratt, Hazrat Musleh-e-Maud (ra) states:

“Another companion who was previously a slave, once took off his upper garment to bathe. Another person who was stood nearby saw that the skin on his back was so hardened and rough that it was like the hide of a buffalo. He was astonished to see this and asked, ‘How long have you had this illness? The skin on your back is so hard that it is like the hide of animals’ Hearing this, Hazrat Khabbab (ra) laughed and replied, ‘This is no illness. When we accepted Islam, our master decided to punish us. So he laid us down in the scorching heat and began beating us, telling us to renounce our belief in Muhammad (sa). In reply, we would recite the Kalimah [Muslim creed] and he would hit us even more. Even after this, when his anger would not subside, he would drag us on the rocks.’”

Hazrat Musleh-e-Maud (ra) further writes:

“In Arabia, in order to protect the houses from water which were made from mud, they would place a type of rock near the area which is called ‘khingar’ in Punjabi. This is an extremely rough and sharp rock which people place on the walls of their homes to protect them from any harm from the pouring of water, i.e. so that the walls are not damaged. So this companion said, ‘When we refused to reject Islam, and the people would become tired from beating us, they would then tie our legs with a rope and continue to drag us on these rough rocks. So whatever you see on my back is as a result of that beating and dragging.’ Hence, such injustice was inflicted upon them year after year. Eventually, Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) could no longer tolerate this, so he sold a large portion of his property in order to free them.”

(Khutbat-e-Mahmud, Vol. 22, pp. 546-547, Khutbah Farmudah 31 October 1941)

Narration 2

Then, whilst mentioning how Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) would free slaves, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih II (ra) states in one instance:

“Those slaves who believed in the Holy Prophet (sa) came from different nations; there were Abyssinians, like Bilal (ra) and Romans, like Suhaib (ra); there were also Christians among them, like Jubair (ra) and Suhaib (ra); there were idolaters, like Bilal (ra) and Ammar (ra). The master of Bilal (ra) would force him to lay on scorching sand and either place stones on him or have young boys jump on top of him […] When Hazrat Abu Bakr (ra) saw this cruelty against them, he freed them by paying their master their price.”

(Dibacha Tafsir al-Quran, Anwar-ul-Ulum, Vol. 20, pp. 193-194)