Bought and Set Free

Abu Bakr passed by while Bilal was being tortured and could not bear to see it. He offered Umayyah a price, and the reports say Umayyah, thinking he was getting a good bargain, sold Bilal for a stronger slave of Abu Bakr's, or for a sum of money.

Abu Bakr freed Bilal at once. Years later, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab used to say, "Abu Bakr is our master, and he freed our master", meaning Bilal (Sahih al-Bukhari 3754).

The Prophet ﷺ had praised Abu Bakr's generosity in freeing weak believers, and the Qur'an mentions the one who gives and fears Allah (92:5), which scholars connect to this incident.

01Why it matters

Generosity that sets another free is among the highest acts of worship.

02Reflection

Whose burden could you lift with what Allah has given you?

03Sources

Sahih al-Bukhari 3754 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
Ibn Hisham, al-Sirah al-NabawiyyahHistorical report
Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'Azim, on Surat al-LaylHistorical report

What the hadith grades mean

Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.

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