God has set them as a trial under your authority. Therefore whoever has mastery over one of his brothers should feed him from what he eats himself, and should clothe him with what he wears himself, and should not burden him with tasks beyond his strength, and should assist him in doing whatever hard work he asks him to do.” [^2] 2 - The Prophet of Islam has honored slaves so much that he has not even allowed anyone to call them a slave or a maid: لا يَقُلْ أَحَدُكُمْ: هَذا عَبْدي وَهَذِهِ أَمَتي.
وَلْيَقُلْ: فَتايَ وَفَتاتِي. “No one is allowed to say this is my slave or that is my maid. You should say this is my young man, and that is my young lady.” [^3] 3 So much was done to improve the conditions of slaves in Islam, and they were so honored so much that no one dared beat his slave lest he would be recognized as the worst person in the world.
This was done so that no one can beat someone else just because he is a slave, so that no one can hurt one of the servants of God nor oppress them. Imam Sadiq quoted on the authority of God’s Prophet : “Do you want me to tell you who the worst people are?” The companions said: “Yes. O Prophet of God!” Then the Prophet said: مَنْ سَافَرَ وَحْدَهُ وَمَنَعَ رِفْدَهُ وَضَرَبَ عَبْدَهُ.
“Those who travel alone, do not admit guests, and beat their slaves.” [^4] You can see from this tradition that the Prophet has introduced those who beat or hurt their slaves as the worst of the people. Imam Ali and his Generosity with His Slave Once Imam Ali went to the bazaar and purchased two garments. He bought one for two Dirhams and the other one for three Dirhams. He donated the one he had bought for three Dirhams to his slave Qanbar and took the other one for himself.
His slave said: “You are the Commander of the Faithful. You climb up the pulpit and deliver sermons to the people. You deserve more to wear the more expensive garment.” Imam Ali replied: “I am ashamed to seek superiority over you in this respect. I heard God’s Prophet say: ألْبِسُوهُم ِممّا تَلْبَسُونَ وَأطْعِمُوهُم ممّا تأكُلونَ. “Clothe them with what you wear yourselves, and feed them with what you eat.” ^5 The Prophet of Islam said: “Your slaves are your brothers. Treat them with kindness.
Seek their help in performing your hard tasks, and help them in the performance of difficult tasks.” [^6] He also said: أوْصانِي حَبِيبي جِبْرَئيلُ بِالرِّفْقِ بِالرَّقيقِ حَتىّ ظَنَنْتُ أنَّهُ سَيَضرِبُ لهُ أجَلاً يَخْرُجُ فِيهِ حُرّاً.