[وَالَّذِينَ
يَبْتَغُونَ الْكِتَـبَ مِمَّا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَـنُكُمْ فَكَـتِبُوهُمْ إِنْ
عَلِمُتُمْ فِيهِمْ خَيْراً]
(And such of your servants as seek a writing (of emancipation), give them
such writing, if you find that there is good and honesty in them.) This is a
command from Allah to slave-owners: if their servants ask them for a contract of
emancipation, they should write it for them, provided that the servant has some
skill and means of earning so that he can pay his master the money that is
stipulated in the contract. Al-Bukhari said: "Rawh narrated from Ibn Jurayj: `I
said to `Ata', "If I know that my servant has money, is it obligatory for me to
write him a contract of emancipation'' He said, "I do not think it can be
anything but obligatory.'' `Amr bin Dinar said: "I said to `Ata', `Are you
narrating this from anybody' He said, `No,' then he told me that Musa bin Anas
told him that Sirin, who had a lot of money, asked Anas for a contract of
emancipation and he refused. So he went to `Umar (bin Al-Khattab), may Allah be
pleased with him, and he said, `Write it for him.' He refused, so `Umar hit him
with his whip and recited,
[فَكَـتِبُوهُمْ إِنْ
عَلِمُتُمْ فِيهِمْ خَيْراً]
(give them such writing, if you find that there is good and honesty in
them.)Then he wrote the contract.'' This was mentioned by Al-Bukhari with a
disconnected chain of narration. It was also narrated by `Abdur-Razzaq who said
Ibn Jurayj told them: I said to `Ata', "If I know that my servant has some
money, is it obligatory for me to write him a contract of emancipation'' He
said, `I do not think it can be anything but obligatory.''' [It was also said by
`Amr bin Dinar who said, "I said to `Ata', `Are you narrating this from anybody'
He said, `No.'''] Ibn Jarir recorded that Sirin wanted Anas bin Malik to write a
contract of emancipation and he delayed, then `Umar said to him, "You should
certainly write him a contract of emancipation.'' Its chain of narrators is
Sahih. Allah's saying:
[إِنْ عَلِمُتُمْ
فِيهِمْ خَيْراً]
(if you find that there is good and honesty in them.) Some of them said (this
means) trustworthiness. Some said: "Honesty,'' and others said: "A skill and
ability to earn.''
[وَءَاتُوهُمْ مِّن
مَّالِ اللَّهِ الَّذِى ءَاتَـكُمْ]
(And give them something out of the wealth of Allah which He has bestowed
upon you.) This is the share of the wealth of Zakah that Allah stated to be
their right. This is the opinion of Al-Hasan, `Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam
and his father and Muqatil bin Hayyan. It was also the opinion favored by Ibn
Jarir.
[وَءَاتُوهُمْ مِّن
مَّالِ اللَّهِ الَّذِى ءَاتَـكُمْ]
(And give them something out of the wealth of Allah which He has bestowed
upon you. ) Ibrahim An-Nakha`i said, "This is urging the people, their masters
and others.'' This was also the view of Buraydah bin Al-Husayb Al-Aslami and
Qatadah. Ibn `Abbas said: "Allah commanded the believers to help in freeing
slaves.''