The Prophet (peace be upon him) was keen to correct people’s behavior when they steeped out of line or did what a Muslim should not do. He would admonish them, point out the right behavior and tell them how to go about correcting what they did wrong. His companions always responded well, knowing that he only taught them what is good, beneficial and sure to bring them reward from God, as well as good results in this present life. But what could the Prophet do when a man does something wrong just before he dies?
Imran ibn Hussayn reports: “Just before his death, a man set free six slaves he owned. He had nothing he called his own except those slaves. The Prophet called them in. He then divided them into three lots and then drew the toss between them. He set free two of the slaves and kept four as slaves. He said some hard words about the man.” (Related by Muslim, Ahmad, Malik, Abu Dawood and Al-Nassaie).
It is clear that the Prophet did not approve of the man’s action. In fact he said some hard words about him. The reporter of this Hadith does not mention these words, perhaps because his audience knew the identity of the man and he did not wish to repeat the Prophet’s words about him. However, some reports mention that the Prophet said: “Had I known of this, I would not have offered the funeral prayer for him.” This is certainly hard, because the funeral prayer includes a good portion of prayers for the deceased person. The Prophet’s prayers are always answered. So to deprive him of that is a great loss indeed. Hence, we understand the extent of the Prophet’s anger with the man for what he had done just before his death.
But why should the man be blamed for his action? Is not the setting free of slaves a noble action that deserves reward from God? It certainly is, and Islam encouraged setting them free in a variety of ways. The important thing in this case is that the man did not have anything of his own other than these six slaves. In other words, they represented his entire estate. We have to remember that at the time slavery had not been abolished, and although Islam wanted it abolished and put in place the mechanism to end slavery gradually, it remained in society. A slave could be sold for a good sum of money. Hence, the man’s action deprived his heirs of their rights that they would have inherited after his death. His action is equal to that of a person giving away everything he owns to charity. This is not acceptable from the Islamic point of view.
Saad ibn Abi Waqqas, one of the leading figures among the Prophet’s companions, was once very ill. When the Prophet visited him, he told the Prophet that he had only one daughter and he had made arrangements for her. He asked the Prophet whether he could give away to charity everything he owned. The Prophet said “No.” Saad asked whether he could give away half his wealth, but the Prophet again answered “No.” Saad then asked: “How about one-third.” The Prophet said: “One-third is all right, but it is much.” This authentic Hadith is the basis of the rule that a person is allowed to give one third of his wealth to charity. But even then, the Prophet describes it as too much and implies that less than one-third is better. He explained to Saad: “It is better that you leave your heirs in money, rather than leaving them dependent on others, begging for help.”
When we take the two Hadiths together we realize the cause of the Prophet’s anger. The man actually gave away all his estate to charity, since setting a slave free is one of the best forms of charity. Thus, he deprived his heirs of their rights of inheritance. This is why the Prophet overruled the man and set about correcting his action. But how could he take back into slavery someone whose master had set free? The Prophet simply ruled that the man had no authority to do so. He could only set free two slaves, since that was the maximum allowed him, considering that he only owned those six slaves. To choose between them, the Prophet simply divided the six into three lots, two in each, and drew the toss between them. This was the only fair way of deciding which two to set free. He gave the others to the man’s heirs.
We have reported over the last few weeks a number of incidents that made the Prophet angry. We noted that in none of them was the cause of his anger personal. It was only for violations of God’s law. We also learned that when the Prophet was angry, it reflected in his face. But this was also the case when he was happy or pleased with something. Nothing could please him as knowing that God was pleased with some of his companions or has forgiven them their errors or sins. This has been reported in several Hadiths, by a number of his companions who were in that position. But other things also pleased him and brought smiles to his face.
Abdullah ibn Masood reports: “I witnessed something said by Al-Miqdad ibn Al-Aswad, which I would have given anything to be the one who said it. He came to the Prophet, as he was appealing to God for support against the unbelievers. He said to the Prophet: ‘We will not say like Moses’ people who told him to go with his Lord to fight his enemies. We will fight at your right and left, in front of you and behind you.’ I saw the Prophet’s face radiates with delight.” (Related by Al-Bukhari and Ahmad).
There are other versions of this Hadith, giving Al-Miqdad’s speech in different wordings. One of these quotes him as saying to the Prophet: “We will not say like the children of Israel said to Moses: ‘Go with your Lord and fight, we will stay here. Rather, we say to you: Go with your Lord and fight; we will fight along side you.” The Prophet was very pleased with Al-Miqdad, as his words came when the Prophet was with a small force, about to face an army of unbelievers that outnumbered them by three to one. His words reflected the Prophet’s companions’ commitment to sacrifice their all for their faith. They fought in this battle, which was the Battle of Badr and scored a resounding victory.