i.Related by al-Bukhari, 121, 4405, 6869 and 7080; al-Nasa’i, 4142; Ibn Majah, 3942.
ii.Related by al-Bukhari, 4402, 4403, 6043, 6166, 6785, 6868 and 7077; Abu Dawud, 4686; al-Nasa’i, 4136; Ibn Majah, 3943.
CHAPTER 31
TO DESCRIBE SOMEONE’S ANCESTRY AS FALSE AND LAMENTATION ARE ACTS OF DISBELIEF
[123–121]. (Dar al-Salam 0128) Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah narrated: Abu Mu[awiyah narrated [H]. Also Ibn Numayr narrated [his text]: my father and Muhammad ibn [Ubayd narrated; all of them from al-A[mash; from Abu Salih; from Abu Hurayrah: ‘God’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said: “Two characteristics of people are indeed disbelief: to allege that another person’s ancestry is false and to lament for a deceased person”.’13
وَحَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو مُعَاوِيَةَ، ح. وَحَدَّثَنَا ابْنُ نُمَيْرٍ - وَاللَّفْظُ لَهُ – قال: حَدَّثَنَا أَبِي وَمُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عُبَيْدٍ، كُلُّهُمْ عَنِ الأَعْمَشِ، عَنْ أَبِي صَالِحٍ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ «اثْنَتَانِ فِي النَّاسِ هُمَا بِهِمْ كُفْرٌ: الطَّعْنُ فِي النَّسَبِ وَالنِّيَاحَةُ عَلَى الْـمَيِّتِ».
Text Explanation
13. Scholars mention different views concerning the meaning of this hadith. The most accurate is that it means these actions are normally done by unbelievers and they belong to their standards of manners. A second view is that these actions lead to disbelief. A third is that they represent a denial of God’s favours and bounty, and the fourth is that they apply to a person who considers such actions lawful. This hadith is meant to stress the prohibition of both actions. Indeed, there are well known texts speaking of each of them, but God knows best.
CHAPTER 32
CALLING A FLEEING SLAVE AN UNBELIEVER
[124–122]. (Dar al-Salam 0129) [Ali ibn Hujr al-Sa[di narrated: Isma[il (meaning Ibn [Ulayyah) narrated; from Mansur ibn [Abd al-Rahman; from al-Sha[bi; from Jarir that he heard him say: ‘Any slave who runs away from his people is an unbeliever until he goes back to them’.
Mansur said: ‘By God, this has been reported from the Prophet (peace be upon him), but I hate that it should be reported from me here in Basrah’.
حَدَّثَنَا عَلِيُّ بْنُ حُجْرٍ السَّعْدِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا إِسْمَاعِيلُ، - يَعْنِي ابْنَ عُلَيَّةَ - عَنْ مَنْصُورِ بْنِ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ، عَنِ الشَّعْبِيِّ، عَنْ جَرِيرٍ، أَنَّهُ سَمِعَهُ يَقُولُ: «أَيُّمَا عَبْدٍ أَبَقَ مِنْ مَوَالِيهِ، فَقَدْ كَفَرَ حَتَّى يَرْجِعَ إِلَيْهِمْ». قَالَ مَنْصُورٌ: قَدْ وَ اللهِ رُوِيَ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَلَكِنِّي أَكْرَهُ أَنْ يُرْوَى عَنِّي هَا هُنَا بِالْبَصْرَةِ.
[125–123]. (Dar al-Salam 0130) Abu Bakr ibn Abi Shaybah narrated: Hafs ibn Ghiyath narrated; from Dawud; from al-Sha[bi; from Jarir: ‘God’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said: “Any slave who runs away forfeits his rights”.’
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا حَفْصُ بْنُ غِيَاثٍ، عَنْ دَاوُدَ، عَنِ الشَّعْبِيِّ، عَنْ جَرِيرٍ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ «أَيُّمَا عَبْدٍ أَبَقَ فَقَدْ بَرِئَتْ مِنْهُ الذِّمَّةُ». .
[126–124]. (Dar al-Salam 0131) Yahya ibn Yahya narrated: Jarir reported; from Mughirah; from al-Sha[bi: ‘Jarir ibn [Abdullah used to narrate from the Prophet (peace be upon him) that: “If a slave runs away, his prayer is not acceptable”.’14
حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ يَحْيَى، أَخْبَرَنَا جَرِيرٌ، عَنْ مُغِيرَةَ، عَنِ الشَّعْبِيِّ قَالَ: كَانَ جَرِيرُ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللهِ يُحَدِّثُ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ: «إِذَا أَبَقَ الْعَبْدُ لَمْ تُقْبَلْ لَهُ صَلاَةٌ».
Text Explanation
14. The same views mentioned in the previous chapter apply here with regard to considering such a slave an unbeliever. The Prophet says in the second of these three hadiths that the runaway forfeits his rights. Slaves in the Muslim state were treated differently from everywhere else, they had rights and the Prophet repeatedly stressed that they must be treated with kindness and never overworked or abused in any way. The Prophet refers here to the fact that slaves were given guarantees that they would not be punished or locked up by their masters. By running away, however, they forfeited such guarantees.
The third hadith quotes the Prophet as saying that when a slave runs away, his prayer is not acceptable. Qadi [Iyad agrees with Imam al-Mazari’s view that this applies to one who considers running away lawful. In this case, he is considered an unbeliever and neither his prayer nor anything else will be acceptable. The Prophet mentions prayer to indicate that other actions are unacceptable. Shaykh Abu [Amr ibn al-Salah disagrees with this view, maintaining that ‘unacceptability also applies to a runaway who does not consider running away lawful. That his prayer is unacceptable does not necessarily mean that it is not valid. Therefore, when a runaway prays, his prayer is valid but unacceptable. Its unacceptability is based on this hadith, because it is coupled with an act of disobedience to God. It is valid because it fulfils all the conditions that are required when a person prays. There is no contradiction here: its unacceptability means its reward is forfeited, but its validity means that it need not be repeated and the runaway does not incur the punishment of neglecting prayer’.
What Abu [Amr ibn al-Salah said is clear and fine. The majority of our scholars say that prayer offered in a piece of land unlawfully held by someone who has no claim to it is valid but earns no reward. I have read in the fatwas of Abu Nasr ibn al-Sabbagh, an eminent scholar of our al-Shafi[i School, quoted by his nephew Qadi Abu Mansur that, ‘What is learnt from our eminent scholars in Iraq is that prayer in an unlawfully held land is valid, with the obligatory aspect being discharged, but it earns no reward’. Abu Mansur adds: ‘I saw that the scholars of our al-Shafi[i School in Khurasan have different views, with some of them stating that
