Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umar
used to pay the zakat al-fitr for those slaves of his that were at
Wadi'l-Qura and Khaybar.
Yahya related to me that Malik said,
"The best that I have heard about the zakat al-fitr is that a man has
to pay for every person that he is responsible for supporting and whom
he must support. He has to pay forall his mukatabs, his mudabbars, and
his ordinary slaves, whether they are present or absent, as long as
they are muslim, and whether or not they are fortrade. However, he
does not have to pay zakat on any of them that are not muslim."
Malik said, concerning a runaway slave, "I think that his master
should pay the zakat fo rhim whether or not he knows where he is, if
it has not been long since the slave ran away and his master hopes
that he is still alive and will return. If it has been a long time
since he ran away and his master has despaired of him returning then I
do not think that he should pay zakat for him.'
Malik said,
"The zakat al-fitr has to be paid by people living in the desert (i.e.
nomadic people) just as it has to be paid by people living in villages
(i.e. settled people), because the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless
him and grant him peace, made the zakat al-fitr at the end of Ramadan
obligatory on every muslim, whether freeman or slave, male or female."
Muwatta Malik Book 17, Hadith 56
The People of Kufa complained against Sa`d to `Umar and the latter dismissed him and appointed
`Ammar as their chief . They lodged many complaints against Sa`d and even they alleged that he did
not pray properly. `Umar sent for him and said, "O Aba 'Is-haq! These people claim that you do not
pray properly." Abu 'Is-haq said, "By Allah, I used to pray with them a prayer similar to that of Allah's
Apostle and I never reduced anything of it. I used to prolong the first two rak`at of `Isha prayer and
shorten the last two rak`at." `Umar said, "O Aba 'Is-haq, this was what I thought about you." And then
he sent one or more persons with him to Kufa so as to ask the people about him. So they went there
and did not leave any mosque without asking about him. All the people praised him till they came to
the mosque of the tribe of Bani `Abs; one of the men called Usama bin Qatada with a surname of Aba
Sa`da stood up and said, "As you have put us under an oath; I am bound to tell you that Sa`d never
went himself with the army and never distributed (the war booty) equally and never did justice in legal
verdicts." (On hearing it) Sa`d said, "I pray to Allah for three things: O Allah! If this slave of yours is
a liar and got up for showing off, give him a long life, increase his poverty and put him to trials." (And
so it happened). Later on when that person was asked how he was, he used to reply that he was an old
man in trial as the result of Sa`d's curse. `Abdul Malik, the sub narrator, said that he had seen him
afterwards and his eyebrows were overhanging his eyes owing to old age and he used to tease and
assault the small girls in the way.
Sahih al-Bukhari Book 10, Hadith 149
Malik related to me from Ibn Shihab from Ubaydullah ibn Abdullah
ibn Utba ibn Masud that one of the Ansar came to the Messenger of
Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, with a black slave-
girl of his. He said, "Messenger of Allah, I must set a slave free who
is a mumina. If you think that she is mumina, I will free her." The
Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,
questioned her, "Do you testify that there is no god but Allah?" She
said, "Yes." "Do you testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah?"
She said, "Yes." "Are you certain about the rising after death?" She
said, "Yes." The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him
peace, said, "Free her."
Muwatta Malik Book 38, Hadith 10