CONTRACTS
Muhmmad recognized the contract system. Unless otherwise laid down in the contract, �he who buys a tree after it has been fecunded, its fruits belongs to one who sells it. . . . and he who buys a slave, his property belongs to one who sells him� (3704).
author : ram swarup
OUTBIDDING
Muhammad also forbade outbidding. �A person should not enter into a transaction when his brother is already making a transaction and he should not make a proposal of marriage when his brother has already made a proposal except when he gives permission� (3618). He also forbade brokerage, �the selling of goods by a townsman on behalf of a man of the desert� (3621).
author : ram swarup
SPECULATION FORBIDDEN
Muhammad forbids speculation. �He who buys food grains should not sell it until he has taken possession of it� (3640). During Muhammad�s own lifetime, as the control of Arabia passed into his hands, his injunctions became state policy. SAlim b. �Abdullah reports: �I saw people being beaten during the lifetime of Allah�s Messenger in case they bought the food grain in bulk and then sold them at that spot before taking it to their places� (3650).
Because of their speculative nature, Muhammad also disallowed �futures� transactions. He forbade �selling ahead for years and selling of fruits before they become ripe� (3714). Transactions with the help of documents (probably the hundior bill of exchange system), were also made unlawful. The injunction was implemented with the help of the police. �I saw the sentinels snatching these documents from the people,� reports SulaimAn (3652).
author : ram swarup
The ninth book is the �Book of Business Transactions� (al-Buyu�). Let us remind ourselves that Muhammad in his pre-prophetic days was a merchant, so his views on the subject should be of interest.
author : ram swarup
PROPER PEADING FOR MUHAMMAD�S DESCENDANTS
We close the �Book of Marriage and Divorce� by quoting one of the very last ahAdIs. It is on a different subject but interesting. �AlI, the Prophet�s son-in-law, says: �He who thinks that we [the members of the Prophet�s family] read anything else besides the book, of Allah and the SahIfa [a small book or pamphlet that was tied to the scabbard of his sword] tells a lie. This SahIfa contains problems pertaining to the ages of the camels and the recompense of injuries, and it also records the words of the prophet. . . . He who innovates or gives protection to an innovator, there is a curse of Allah and that of his angels and that of the whole humanity upon him� (3601).
author : ram swarup
SLAVERY HAS ITS OWN REWARD
Beyond all that may be said or done, the condition of a slave is no great evil. It has its own reward. �When a slave looks to the welfare of his master and worships Allah well, he has two rewards for him� (4097).
author : ram swarup
OTHER DISABILITIES
A freed slave is subjected to several other disabilities. He cannot seek any new alliance, nor can he offer himself as an ally without the permission of his former owner. One �who took the freed slave as an ally without the consent of his previous master, there is upon him the curse of Allah and that of His angels and that of the whole mankind� (3600).
author : ram swarup
WHO INHERITS A SLAVE�S PROPERTY?
Even if a slave�s person was freed, any property he might have or come to have was inherited by the emancipator (3584-3595). �Aisha was ready to help a slave-girl, BarIra, to purchase her freedom on the condition that �I shall have the right in your inheritance.� But the owner, though ready to free her for cash money, wanted to retain the right of inheritance for himself. Muhammad gave his judgment in favor of �Aisha: �Buy her, and emancipate her, for the right of inheritance vests with one who emancipates.� Muhammad then admonished: �What has happened to the people that they lay down conditions which are not found in the Book of Allah� (3585).
author : ram swarup
WHICH SLAVES DESERVE EMANCIPATION?
Only a believing slave deserves freedom. Someone once slapped his maid-slave in anger and then, in contrition, wanted to free her. When Muhammad was consulted, he said: �Bring her to me.� She was brought. Muhammad asked her: �Where is Allah?� She replied: �He is in the heaven.� Muhammad asked: �Who am I?� �Thou art the Messenger of Allah,� she answered. Muhammad gave his verdict: �Grant her freedom, she is a believing woman� (1094).
Thus there is merit in freeing a slave. �A Muslim who emancipates a Muslim [slave], Allah will save from Fire every limb of his for every limb of the slave, even his private parts for his� (3604).
One could also emancipate a jointly owned slave to the extent of one�s share in him. For the rest a fair price for the slave was to be fixed, and the slave �will be required to work to pay for his freedom, but must not be overburdened� (3582).
author : ram swarup
EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES
The emancipation of slaves was not unknown in pre-Islamic Arabia. Slaves could gain their freedom in several ways. One way, and a very common one, of course, was that they were ransomed by their relatives. Another was when a master granted his slave a free and unconditional emancipation (�itq). There were two other forms of emancipation: tadbir and kitabah. In the first, the master declared that on his death his slaves would be free. In the second, slaves who were not ransomed by their relatives obtained their master�s permission to earn their ransom by work.
We have already seen how HakIm b. HizAm �freed one hundred slaves� (225) even before he became a Muslim. We have also observed that it was an old custom among the Arabs of more pious disposition to will that their slaves would be freed at their death, a practice which was opposed in some cases by Muhammad because he did not want such emancipations to take place at the expense of the heirs and relatives of the masters. On the whole, however, Muhammad�s response to the practice was positive, but this did not make him into a Messiah of the slaves. On the other hand, he saw the time when the meek and the lowly would inherit the earth as a portent of the approaching end of the world. �When the slave-girl will give birth to her master, when the naked, barefooted would become the chiefs of the people-these are some of the signs of Doom,� according to him (4).
To Muhammad, the freeing of a slave was an act of charity on the part of the master, not a matter of justice. In any case, a slave should not seek his emancipation by running away. �The slave who fled from his master committed an act of infidelity so long as he would not return to him,� says Muhammad (129).
author : ram swarup