Sahih Muslim, 70
sahihJarir b. Abdullah reported it from the Prophet:
When the slave runs away from his master, his prayer is not accepted.
حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ يَحْيَى، أَخْبَرَنَا جَرِيرٌ، عَنْ مُغِيرَةَ، عَنِ الشَّعْبِيِّ، قَالَ كَانَ جَرِيرُ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ يُحَدِّثُ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ
إِذَا أَبَقَ الْعَبْدُ لَمْ تُقْبَلْ لَهُ صَلاَةٌ
.
Isnad
5 transmittersReferences2 variants
- In-Book Reference
- Book 1, Hadith 136
- USC-MSA web (English) reference
- Book 1, Hadith 131 (deprecated numbering scheme)
Sharh · explanationclick to expand
The slave’s obedience to his master according to the obedience of Allah, the Almighty, is one of the greatest acts of worship. Allah organized the relations between masters and slaves. He urged masters to gently deal with them and recommended them to set them free. On the other hand, he encouraged slaves to preserve Allah's and their masters' rights. A master buys his slave with his money, so he has the right not to waste his money. In this hadith, the Prophet ﷺ confirmed that if a slave escapes from his master, "not a single prayer will be accepted from him.” This is because the slave is completely owned by his master so if he escapes, his master misses some benefits. It was said that the hadeeth refers to a slave who considers escaping lawful so he becomes a disbeliever and neither his prayer nor any other acts of worship are accepted from him. The Prophet ﷺ exclusively mentioned prayer for its greatness and virtue. It was said that the hadeeth is general and that rejecting his worship does not necessitate its invalidity. The escaped slave's prayer (who does not think that escaping is lawful) is correct, for he fulfils its pillars, but it is still unaccepted because it is associated with disobeying his master. There is no contradiction in that, for rejecting his worship means losing the reward but its validity means he is neither required to re-perform it nor he may be punished as the one used to abandon the prayer. Finally, this hadith confirms that a slave's escaping from his master is a great sin which contradicts faith's requirements commanding him to obey his master..