The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume II — Page 200
Seal of the Prophets - Volume II 200 Abū Bakr ra heard this, he admonished them saying, ‘Is this how you speak of the leader of the Quraish?’ After this, Abū Bakr ra presented himself before the Holy Prophet sa and related the entire incident. The Holy Prophet sa said, ‘Abū Bakr! Are you certain that you have not displeased Bilāl, etc. ? For in their displeasure is the displeasure of God. ’ Abū Bakr ra returned to Bilāl ra , etc. , immediately and said, ‘O brothers! I hope you are not displeased at what I said. ’ They responded, ‘O brother! We are not displeased. There is nothing to worry about. ’” 1 How Did the Muslims Act upon the Teaching of the Manumission of Slaves Now the only question which remains is whether the freedom of slaves actually took place or not as a result of these recommendations, expiations, and compulsory manumissions. The answer to this is that as mentioned above, in this era, slaves were found in abundance. This was to such extent that in certain countries, the number of slaves was at times, even greater than the actual number of residents in the country. 2 Therefore, to empty this unlimited store was no easy task, nor did all of these slaves live under the small Islāmic State and under Muslim owners, whose number was even smaller. Thus, it was obvious that this liberation movement could only move forward gradually. However, history shows that as far as the efforts of the Companions and their followers were concerned, they exerted their utmost concentration and effort in order to free slaves themselves, as well as secure the freedom of others. Most definitely, no such example can be found in the history of the world. As such, history establishes that in this era, not only did Muslims continue to free slaves in abundance by their own hands, rather, they would also purchase slaves with the specific intention and objective of freeing them. In this manner, due to the commendable efforts of the Muslims, countless slaves were delivered from the misfortune of slavery. Therefore, the following list, which is definitely not inclusive and only contains the names of a few Companions by way of example, is enough to prove our claim. It is narrated in Subulus-Salām: 1 Ṣaḥīḥu Muslim, Kitābu Faḍā’iliṣ-Ṣaḥābah, Bābu Min Faḍā’ili Salmān Wa Ṣuhaib wa Bilāl. . . . . , Ḥadīth No. 6412 2 The Encyclopedia Britannica (11th Edition), Volume XV, p. 219, Under the word ‘Slavery’, Encyclopedia Britannica Inc, New York (1910-1911)