By Ustaadh Khadar bin Muhammad Amin, Senior Lecturer in Hadeeth and ‘Aqeedah, Darul Hadeeth International. All praise and thanks are due to Allaah, and may Allaah send salaam upon and exalt the mention of His Messenger, Muhammad (ﷺ). Imaam al-Bukhaaree, in the Book of Knowledge (Kitaab al-‘Ilm) of his Saheeh, has a chapter he titled:بَابُ تَعْلِيمِ الرَّجُلِ أَمَتَهُ وَأَهْلَهُ” Chapter: A man teaching his bondwoman and his family.”Under it he brought this hadeeth: حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدٌ ـ هُوَ ابْنُ سَلاَمٍ ـ حَدَّثَنَا الْمُحَارِبِيُّ، قَالَ: حَدَّثَنَا صَالِحُ بْنُ حَيَّانَ، قَالَ: قَالَ عَامِرٌ الشَّعْبِيُّ: حَدَّثَنِي أَبُو بُرْدَةَ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ: «ثَلاَثَةٌ لَهُمْ أَجْرَانِ: رَجُلٌ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ آمَنَ بِنَبِيِّهِ وَآمَنَ بِمُحَمَّدٍ ﷺ، وَالْعَبْدُ الْمَمْلُوكُ إِذَا أَدَّى حَقَّ اللَّهِ وَحَقَّ مَوَالِيهِ، وَرَجُلٌ كَانَتْ عِنْدَهُ أَمَةٌ فَأَدَّبَهَا فَأَحْسَنَ تَأْدِيبَهَا، وَعَلَّمَهَا فَأَحْسَنَ تَعْلِيمَهَا، ثُمَّ أَعْتَقَهَا فَتَزَوَّجَهَا، فَلَهُ أَجْرَانِ». ثُمَّ قَالَ عَامِرٌ: أَعْطَيْنَاكَهَا بِغَيْرِ شَيْءٍ، قَدْ كَانَ يُرْكَبُ فِيمَا دُونَهَا إِلَى الْمَدِينَةِ. Abu Burdah narrated from his father, Aboo Moosaa al-Ash’aree (may Allaah be pleased with him), that the Messenger of Allaah (ﷺ) said:”There are three who will have a double reward: a man from the People of the Book who believed in his prophet and then believed in Muhammad (ﷺ); an enslaved man who fulfills the right of Allaah and the right of his masters; and a man who had a bondwoman in his care, so he raised her with good manners and did so excellently, taught her and taught her excellently, then freed her and married her. He will have a double reward.” Then ‘Aamir al-Sha’bee said: “We have given it to you for nothing. People used to ride all the way to Madeenah for less than this.” Islaam raised up and gives attention and concern to those society overlooked. Think about who the Prophet (ﷺ) chose to mention. In the society of that time, nobody was more overlooked than a bondwoman. She had no tribe to protect her, no wealth and no status. Yet the Messenger of Allaah (ﷺ) promised a double reward to the man who gave her three things: good manners (adab), sound knowledge (‘ilm), and then her freedom and the honor of marriage. This is the way of Islaam. It doesn’t measure people by lineage or wealth. Bilaal from Habasha was once enslaved, and still the Messenger of Allaah heard his footsteps ahead of him in Paradise. Islaam teaches us that the people the world passes by are often the ones most deserving of our effort. Teaching someone who has no one else to teach them is an act of worship that Allaah multiplies.
Women’s Education in Islaam: Begin With Your Own Home. Look again at the title Imaam al-Bukhaaree gave this chapter: “A man teaching his bondwoman and his family.” The hadeeth itself only mentions the bondwoman, so why did he add the family? The scholars explain that this comes from the principle of al-awlaa, “that certain individuals have more right to your time and wealth etc.” Al-Haafidh Ibn Hajar points out in Fath al-Baaree that if a man is rewarded this much for teaching a bondwoman, then teaching his own free family the obligations of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (ﷺ) is even more important. So, my brother, if Allaah promised a double reward for educating a woman who wasn’t even your family, and whom society gave no standing at all, what do you think of your wife, your daughter, your sister and your mother? Allaah says:﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ وَأَهْلِيكُمْ نَارًا﴾”O you who believe, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire…” (al-Tahreem 66:6) You can’t protect your family from something they don’t know about. The women of the Companions understood this. In this same Book of Knowledge, al-Bukhaaree narrates that the women came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said, “The men have taken all your time, so set aside a day for us.” He gave them a day, and he taught them on it. Islamic education for women isn’t something extra. A daughter taught ‘Aqeedah, Salaah and good character becomes a mother who raises a generation upon the Sunnah.
Knowledge Became Easy, So Don’t Let It Become Cheap Now reflect on the words of ‘Aamir al-Sha’bi, one of the great Taabi’oon: “We have given it to you for nothing. People used to ride to al Madeenah for less than this.” He was reminding his student of something we badly need to hear today. In the same Book of Knowledge, al-Bukhari mentions that the Companion Jaabir ibn ‘Abdillah traveled for a whole month to reach ‘Abdullaah ibn Unays, all for one hadeeth. Our scholars crossed deserts, sold their belongings and slept hungry in the masaajid to hear a single narration with its isnaad. Today, Saheeh al-Bukhaaree is on your phone and a class with a qualified teacher is one click away. This is a great blessing from Allaah. But when something comes easily, we risk taking it lightly. We skim a hadeeth that someone once rode weeks to hear. We scroll past a lesson our predecessors would have given anything to attend. Seeking Islamic knowledge is still worth all of that sacrifice, because its value never changed. Only the cost did. So come to it with the respect it deserves: with sincerity, with adab, through a qualified teacher and a sound chain, and with the intention of acting on what you learn.
Take Your Share of the Double Reward. Teach the one nobody else is teaching. Start with your wife, your daughters and your sisters. And never think the knowledge in your hands is small just because it reached you easily. At Darul Hadeeth International, we offer structured online courses in Hadeeth, ‘Aqeedah, Fiqh, Tafseer and the Arabic language for brothers and sisters around the world, taught by qualified scholars with connected chains of transmission. Enroll yourself, enroll your family, and take your share of this reward. https://darulhadeethinternational.com/programs/ May Allaah grant us beneficial knowledge and make us of those who act upon it. Aameen.