A man from the tribe of Bani Udhrah freed a slave of his by way of tadbeer, meaning the slave would be freed upon his master's death. News of this reached the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who asked him, "Do you have any wealth besides him?"The man replied, "No."So the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Who will buy him from me?"Naeem bin Abdullah al-Adawi bought him for eight hundred dirhams. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ brought the money and handed it to the man, then said, "Begin with yourself and spend on it. If anything remains, then for your family. If anything remains beyond your family, then for your relatives. If anything remains beyond your relatives, then like this and like this," meaning in front of you, to your right, and to your left.
أعتق رجل من بني عذرة عبدا له عن دبر، فبلغ ذلك رسول الله ﷺ، فقال: ألك مال غيره؟ فقال: لا. فقال: من يشتريه مني؟ فاشتراه نعيم بن عبد الله العدوى بثمانمائة درهم، فجاء بها رسول الله ﷺ، فدفعها إليه، ثم قال: ابدأ بنفسك، فتصدق عليها؛ فإن فضل شيء فلأهلك، فإن فضل عن أهلك شيء فلذى قرابتك، فإن فضل عن ذي قرابتك شيء فهكذا وهكذا. يقول: فبين يديك، وعن يمينك، وشمالك.
Muslim narrated it in the Book of Zakat (997), from Qutayba bin Saeed, from Layth, from Abu Zubayr, from Jabir, as mentioned above. Bukhari narrated it in the Book of Rulings (7186) through another route from Jabir, in abridged form.Imam Shafii, Ahmad, Ishaq and others held to the apparent meaning of the hadith, and also reasoned by analogy with a slave whose emancipation has been bequeathed by will, for such a slave may be sold by unanimous agreement. Abu Hanifa, Malik, and the scholars of Hijaz, Syria, and Kufa disagreed with them on this point, saying that it is not permissible to sell a slave designated for emancipation after death (mudabbar). They said that the Prophet ﷺ permitted his sale because the man had no other property, as mentioned in the hadith. It was also said that the man was in debt, and the Prophet ﷺ sold him to pay off his debt. As for the proponents of the first view, they said that selling a mudabbar slave is permissible under any circumstances so long as the master has not died, but once the master dies, the slave becomes free and can no longer be sold.Regarding his statement, "so Nuaym bin Abdullah bought him," in Muslim's narration (59) it reads, "so Ibn Nahham bought him," this being the wording in all copies of Muslim. Scholars said that "Ibn Nahham" is a mistake, and the correct form is "Nahham." Nuaym bin Abdullah is Nahham, so named because the Prophet ﷺ said, "I entered Paradise and heard in it the nahmah of Nuaym." Nahmah means a sound or voice.