That Allah is on the Heaven is a Part of Faith: Kitab al-Tawhid (The Book on Monotheism) by Abu Bakr b. Khuzaymah

 178. (1) Abū Hāshim, Ziyād b. Ayyūb → Mubashshir (Ibn Ismāᵓīl al-Ḥalbī → al-Awzāᶜī → Yaḥyā b. Ibn Abī Kathīr → Ḥilāl b. Abī Maymūnah → ᶜAṭāᵓ b. Yassār → Muᶜāwiyah b. al-Ḥakam al-Sulamī:

I had a herd of sheep shepherded by a slave girl around ᶜỤhd and its surroundings. A wolf attacked the herd and took a goat. I, being a human being, was upset and beat her (my slave girl). Then I came to the Prophet. I regretted what I had done, and I asked the Messenger of Allah whether I should free her? The Prophet said: “Yes, bring her here.” I took her to the Prophet who asked her: “Where is Allāh?” She replied: “On the heaven.” He asked again: “Who I am?” She replied: “You are the Messenger of Allah.” At this the Prophet said: “She is a believer. Free her.”

179. (2) Bundār and Abū Qadāmah → Yaḥyā (Ibn Saᶜīd) → Yaḥyā b. Abī Kathīr. Bunār said: Narrated to us (ḥaddathanā) al-Hajjāj from Yaḥyā b. Abī Kathīr. Abū Qudāmah, however, said:  Narrated to me Yaḥyā b. Abī Kathīr from Hilāl b. Abū Maymūna from ᶜAṭāᵓ b. Yassār → Muᶜāwiyah b. al-Ḥakam al-Sulamī, who said:

I had a slave girl who shepherded my sheep…..

The narrator related the entire ḥadīth. This version includes the following dialogue between the Prophet and the slave girl. The Prophet commanded him to bring the slave girl to him. Then he asked the slave girl: “Who am I?” She replied: “The Messenger of Allah.” He commanded (the Companion): “Free her. She is a believer.”

Abū Bakr said: The man al-Ḥajjāj in the isnād is al-Ḥajjāj b. Abī ᶜUthmān al-Ṣawāf. I have heard Muhammad b. Yaḥyā saying regarding him: al-Ḥajjāj is matīn (firm). He meant to say that he is a ḥāfiẓẓ matqin (perfect memorizer).

180. (3) Al-Rabīᶜ b. Sulaymān al-Murādī → al-Shāfiᶜī → Mālik:

And al-Ḥasan b. Muhammad al-Zaᶜfrānī → Muhammad b. Idrīs al-Shāfᶜī → Mālik:

….. (4) Yūsuf b. ᶜAbd al-Aᶜlā → Ibn Wahb → Mālik → Hilāl b. Usāmah → ᶜAṭāᵓ b. Yassār → al-Ḥakam:

I came to the Prophet and said to him: “O Messenger of Allah! I have a slave girl who looks after my sheep. I went to her [to oversee the affairs] and found that a sheep was missing from the herd. I asked her about it. She told me that a wolf had eaten it. I was angry. Since I am a human being, [who get enraged] I slapped her in the face. I am obliged to free a slave. Should I set her free?” The Prophet asked her: “Where is Allāh?” She said: “In the heavens.” The Prophet said: “Who am I?” She replied: “You are the Messenger of Allah.” He said: “Release her.”

181. (5) Muhammad b. Yaḥyā al-Quṭaᶜī → Ziyād b. Al-Rabīᶜ → Muhammad b. ᶜAmr b. ᶜAlqamah → Abū Salamah → Abū Hurayrah:

Muhammad b. al-Sharīd came with a back slave girl of his to the Prophet and said: “O Messenger of Allah, my mother took upon her releasing a believing slave. O Messenger of Allah, will it release my mother of the obligation if I freed this slave of mine on her behalf?” The Prophet said to the slave: “Where is Allāh?” She raised her head towards the heavens and said: “In the heavens.” The Prophet asked her: “Who am I? She replied: “You are the Messenger of Allah.” The Prophet said to Muhammad b al-Sharīd: “Free her. She is a believer.”

182. (6) Muhammad b. Rāfiᶜ → Yazīd b. Hārūn → al-Masᶜūdī → ᶜAwn b. ᶜAbd Allāh → his brother ᶜUbayd Allāh b. ᶜAbd Allāh → Abū Hurayrah:

A person came to the Prophet with his non-Arab slave girl and said: “O Messenger of Allah! I am obliged to release a Muslim slave. Should this slave girl be set free?” The Prophet asked the slave girl: “Where is Allāh?” She signalled towards the heavens. The Prophet said: “Who am I?” She pointed towards the Prophet and then to the heavens to express that He is the Messenger of Allah. The Prophet said: “Release her. She is a believing woman.”

183. (7) A version of this narrative has been reported to us by Baḥr b. Naṣr from Asad al-Sanah (Ibn Mūsā) from al-Masᶜūdī. This narrative includes the following:

He came with a black slave girl who could not speak. He told the Prophet that he was obliged to release a believing slave. The Prophet said to her: “Who is your Allah?” She pointed with her hand towards the heavens. The Prophet then asked her: “Who am I?” She said, pointing with her hand from heaven to earth meaning that he is the Messenger of Allah.

The remaining part of the narrative is the same.

184. (8) Another version has been reported by Muhammad b. Maᶜmar from Abū Dāwūd from al-Masᶜūdī from ᶜAwn b. ᶜAbd Allāh b. ᶜUtbah using the same isnād. In this narrative the following is different.

A non-Arab slave girl with no command of Arabic language.” And the Prophet said: “Free her.”

Masᶜūdī, on one occasion, attributed the following words to the Prophet: “Release her. She is a believing woman.”

Abū Bakr said: I have recorded the ḥadīths on this issue in Kitāb al-Ẓihār, under the head of relapsing slaves as expiation for violating the vow.

185. (9) Muhammad b. Yaḥyā → ᶜAbd al-Razzāq → Maᶜmar → al-Zuhrī → ᶜUbayd Allāh b. ᶜAbd Allāh b. ᶜUtbah → a person from al-Anṣār (the Helpers of Madīnah):

I brought a black woman and asked the Prophet: “O Prophet, I am obliged to freeing a slave. If you think this is a believing woman, I will set her free.” The Prophet asked the woman: “Do you witness that there is no god but Allāh?” She said: “Yes.” He said: “Do you witness that I am the Messenger of Allah?” She said: “Yes.” He said: “Do you believe in the resurrection after death?” She said: “Yes.” The Prophet said: “Free her.”

Mālik has narrated this ḥadīth from Ibn Shihāb who reported from ᶜUbayd Allāh who reported from ᶜAbd Allāh who reported it from the Prophet, in a mursal form. [There is no Companion between the successor and the Prophet.]

186. (10) Muhammad b. Yaḥyā → Bish b. ᶜUmar → Mālik:

Abū Bakr said: Al-Ḥusayn has committed an error while mention this isnād. He reports it from Mālik from al-Zuhrī from ᶜUbaydullāh from Abū Hurayrah from the Prophet:

187. (11) Following the ḥadīth of al-Masᶜūdī, ᶜAbd al-Wahhāb reported another tradition with the following isnād:

al-Ḥusayn b. al-Walīd → Mālik b. Anas → al-Zuhrī → ᶜUbaydullāh → Abū Hurayrah → the Prophet:

The same ḥadīth follows this isnād. He means to refer to the ḥadīth reported by al-Masᶜūdī from ᶜAwn from ᶜUbaydullāh b. ᶜAbd Allāh from Abū Hurayrah. However, he explains that they did not include the Prophetic words: “She is a believing woman.”

Abū Bakr said: There is no doubt that this assertion is wrong. The ḥadīth of Mālik does not mention Abū Hurayrah. As for Maᶜmar, he too did not mention Abū Hurayrah. He stated that it was reported by someone from among the Anṣār. We know that Abū Hurayrah al-Dawsī is not an anṣārī (one among the helpers). I do not reject that the ḥadīth of Maᶜmar is a sound one. It is not impossible that a narrator like ᶜUbaydullah b. ᶜAbd Allāh reported from Abū Hurayrah on the authority of a man from Anṣār. This is not impossible even if the text of both the ḥadīths were the same. Here we see that there are two different texts. In my knowledge both are two different and distinct traditions. They are not the versions of the same narrative.

The ḥadīth of ᶜAwn b. ᶜAbd Allāh says the black slave girl responded to the Prophet’s questions by indicating with her hands. She did not speak. In the report of al-Zuhrī, the black slave girl spoke. When the Prophet asked her: “Do you witness to that there is no god except for Allāh?” She said: “Yes.” She used oral speech. Indication by the hand of course cannot be termed kalām (linguistic speech).

The ḥadīth of al-Zuhrī, contains additional questions. The Prophet asks her about the Hereafter. “Do you believe in resurrection after death?” was the question.

Therefore, learn and understand. Do not fall into error.

---