Asmaa’ daughter of Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with them) said that during a solar eclipse, the Prophet ﷺ gave a command that slaves should be set free..
Commentary :
The sun and moon are two signs from among the creations of Allah - May He be Exalted - proving His Majesty; and they are subjected to His Power and Might. The occurrence of lunar and solar eclipses is one of Allah’s signs that manifest, so we can reflect on the Absolute Divine Power of Allah. The Prophet ﷺ taught us what we should do when such a phenomenon occurs.
In this hadeeth, Asmaa’ bint Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with them) reports that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ordered for an ʿataaqahwhen a solar eclipse occurred. And what is intended by the word ʿataaqah: is the freeing of a slave [from ownership] and his manumission; so that by this manumission, Allah may lift tribulations away from His servants. It has been said that: he ﷺ ordered for the manumission [of slaves] during solar and lunar eclipses because when one frees a slave, the servant deserves, as a reward, deliverance from the hellfire.
The Prophet ﷺ also instructed them to pray, supplicate, and invoke Allah; like what is mentioned in Saheeh Muslim and Saheeh al-Bukhaareefrom the hadeeth narrated by al-Mugheerah ibn Shuʿbah. The eclipse of the sun occurs when its light disappears in the sky. For the most part, the solar eclipse is expressed by the Arabic word: al-kusoof, and the lunar eclipse as al-khusoof. These two words may be used interchangeably to express one another as well.
The eclipse is one of the signs of Allah, Exalted be He, - as seen where Allah, Most High, says: {We only send the signs as a warning.} [Quran 17:59]. For this reason, the Prophet ﷺ would prolong his prayer because of the fear which Allah has promised in the Quran. So, manumitting slaves and the rest of good deeds were enjoined with the prayer during both the solar and lunar eclipse because the good deeds lift the punishments from befalling upon the people.
From the other benefits that we can conclude from this hadeeth is that we should seek to gain Allah’s favour with pious deeds so that He may lift the tribulations [that we face in the world]. It shows us the virtue of freeing slaves, and that it is one of the pious deeds that we should partake in during such times.
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