47. Muhammad
47.1 Narrated Az-Zuhri (رضي الله عنه)
From Abu Salamah, from Abu Hurairah (رضي الله عنه) (regarding):
﴾ واستغفر لذنبك وللمؤمنين والمؤمنات ﴿
‘And seek forgiveness for your sins, and also for the believing men and women (47:19).’
That the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) said: “Indeed I ask Allah for forgiveness seventy times a day.”
Jami` at-Tirmidhi Vol. 5, Book 44, Hadith 3259
47.2 Narrated Abu Hurairah (رضي الله عنه)
“One day, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) recited this Ayah:
﴾ وإن تتولوا يستبدل قوما غيركم ثم لا يكونوا أمثالكم ﴿
‘And if you turn away, He will replace you with other people; then they will not be like you (47:38).’
They said: ‘And who will replace us?’ So the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم)
patted the shoulder of Salman, then he said: ‘This one and his people, this one and his people.'”
Jami` at-Tirmidhi Vol. 5, Book 44, Hadith 3260
47.3 Narrated Abu Huraira (رضي الله عنه)
The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) said, “Allah created His creation, and when He had finished it, the womb, got up and caught hold of Allah whereupon Allah said, “What is the matter?’ On that, it said, ‘I seek refuge with you from those who sever the ties of Kith and kin.’ On that Allah said, ‘Will you be satisfied if I bestow My favors on him who keeps your ties, and withhold My favors from him who severs your ties?’ On that it said, ‘Yes, O my Lord!’ Then Allah said, ‘That is for you.’ ” Abu Huraira added: If you wish, you can recite:
﴾ فهل عسيتم إن توليتم أن تفسدوا في الأرض وتقطعوا أرحامكم ﴿
“Would you then if you were given the authority, do mischief in the land and sever your ties of kinship. (47:22)
Sahih al-Bukhari Vol. 6, Book 60, Hadith 354
47.4 Abu Wa’il (رضي الله عنه) reported
That a person named Nabik b. Sinan came to Abdullah (b. Mas’ud) and said: Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman, how do you recite this word (alif) or (ya)? Would you read It as:
﴾ من ماء غير آسن ﴿
Of water unaltered (47:15)
min ma’in ghaira asin or au min ma’in ghaira ghaira yasin? ‘Abdullah said: You (seem to) have memorised the whole of the Qur’an except this. He (again) said: I recite all the mufassal surahs in one rak’ah. Upon this ‘Abdullah said: (You must have been reciting It) hastily like the recitation of poetry. Verily. there are people who recite the Qur’an, but it does not go down beyond their collar bones. It is (a fact with the Qur’an) that it is beneficial only when it settles in the heart and is rooted deeply in it. The best of (the acts) in prayer are bowing and prostration. I am quite aware of the occasions when the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) combined together two surahs in every rak’ah. ‘Abdullah then stood up and went out with ‘Alqama following in his footstep. He said Ibn Numair had told him that the narration was like that:” A person belonging to Banu Bajila came to ‘Abdullah,” and he did not mention (the name of) Nahik b. Sinan.
47.5 Narrated ‘Imran bin Husain (رضي الله عنه)
That the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) ransomed two men for the Muslims with a man from the idolaters.
[Abu ‘Eisa said:] This Hadith is Hasan Sahih.
The paternal uncle of Abu Al-Muhallab’s name is ‘Abdur Rahman bin ‘Amr, and they also say it was Muhawiyah bin ‘Amr. And Abu Qilabah’s name is ‘Abdullah bin Zaid Al-Jarmi (narrator in the chain)
This is acted upon according to most of the people of knowledge among the Companions of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) and others. It is for the Imam to decide to be generous with whom he wills among the captives, or to kill whom he wills among them, or to ransom whom he wills among them. Some of the people of knowledge preferred killing over ransoming.
Al-Awzai’ said: “It has been conveyed to me. that this Ayah is abrogated:
﴾ فإما منّا بعد وإما فدا ﴿
‘Thereafter (is the time) either for generosity (to free them without ranson) or ransom’ (47:4).
It was abrogated by:
﴾ واقتلوهم حيث ثقفتموهم ﴿
Kill them wherever you find them (2:191).
This was narrated to us by Hannad (who said): “Ibn Al-Mubarak narrated to us, from Al-Awza’i.”
Ishaq bin Mansur said: “I said to Ahmad: ‘When the captives are captured’ is killing or ransoming better to you?’ He said: ‘If they are able to ransom’ then there is no harm in it. And if they kill, then I do not know of any harm in it.'” Ishaq said: “Wiping them out is better to me, unless it is someone well-known, so that it is hoped that a large amount will be obtained for him.”
47.6 Malik related
To me that he had heard that Abdullah ibn Umar was asked whether a slave could be bought on the specific condition that it was to be used to fulfil the obligation of freeing a slave, and he said, “No.”
Malik said, “That is the best of what I have heard on the obligation of freeing slaves. Someone who has to set a slave free because of an obligation on him, may not buy one on the condition that he sets it free because if he does that, whatever he buys is not completely a slave because he has reduced its price by the condition he has made of setting it free.”
Malik added, “There is no harm, however, in someone buying a person expressly to set him free.”
Malik said, “The best of what I have heard on the obligation of freeing slaves is that it is not permitted to free a christian or a jew to fulfil it, and one does not free a mukatab or a mudabbar or an umm walad or a slave to be freed after a certain number of years, or a blind person. There is no harm in freeing a christian, jew, or magian voluntarily, because Allah, the Blessed, the Exalted, said in His Book,
﴾ فإما منّا بعد وإما فدا ﴿
‘Either as a favour then or by ransom,’ (47:4)
The favour is setting free.” Malik said, “As for obligations of freeing slaves which Allah has mentioned in the Book, one only frees a mumin slave for them.”
Malik said, “It is like that in feeding poor people for kaffara. One must only feed muslims and one does not feed anyone outside of the deen of Islam.”
﴾ بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم ﴿ 
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