Reports on the explanation of the words of Allah the Mighty and Majestic: If you know there is good in them

Yahya bin Abi Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) says that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Make a contract with them if you know any good in them" [Surah al-Nur: 33], meaning: if you see some skill or craft in them; and do not leave them to depend on people.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) says about "Make a contract with them if you know any good in them" [Surah al-Nur: 33]: if you know that he will pay the kitabah amount.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) says: If you perceive in them some means (of earning), then do not place their expenses upon the Muslims.

According to Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), what is meant by the words "Make a contract with them if you know any good in them" [Surah al-Nur: 33] is trustworthiness and fulfilment (of obligations).

Nafi' (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates from Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) that he disliked making a kitabah contract with a slave who knew no trade, and he would say: "You will feed me the filth of people."

Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) says about the words "Make a contract with them if you know any good in them" [Surah al-Nur: 33]: "If you know them to have some skill or wealth."

Ata bin Abi Rabah says that what is meant by it is wealth. Then he recited this verse: "It is prescribed for you, when death approaches one of you, if he leaves behind good (wealth), that he make a bequest" [Surah al-Baqarah: 180]. Ata says that here khayr (good) means wealth. Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) says about "if you know any good in them" [Surah al-Nur: 33] and "And indeed he is intense in his love of good (wealth)" [Surah al-Adiyat: 8] that what is meant is wealth; and in "if he leaves behind good" [Surah al-Baqarah: 180], good means wealth. [Da'if]

Ibn Jurayj said to Ata (may Allah have mercy on him): "What is meant by khayr (good): wealth, or righteousness, or all of that?" He said: "We consider it to be nothing but wealth." I said: "And if he has no wealth but is a truthful man?" He said: "I do not reckon khayr to be anything but that: wealth and righteousness."
And Mujahid (may Allah have mercy on him) said about "if you know any good in them" [Surah al-Nur: 33]: "Wealth, whatever their character and their religion may be."
Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "Khayr is a word whose intended meaning is known from the context in which it is addressed. Allah Almighty says: 'Indeed, those who believe and do righteous deeds, they are the best of creation' [Surah al-Bayyinah: 7], so we understood that they are the best of creation through faith and righteous deeds, not through wealth. And Allah Almighty says: 'And the sacrificial camels We have made for you among the symbols of Allah; for you therein is good' [Surah al-Hajj: 36], so we understood that the good here is the benefit of reward, not that the camels hold wealth for them. And He, the Mighty and Majestic, says: 'When death approaches one of you, if he leaves good' [Surah al-Baqarah: 180], so we understood that it means if he leaves wealth, because what is left behind is wealth, and (this is shown) by His saying: 'the bequest for parents and near relatives' [Surah al-Baqarah: 180]. So when Allah Almighty said: 'Make a contract with them if you know any good in them' [Surah al-Nur: 33], the most apparent of its meanings, by the indication of what we have deduced from the Book, was: strength to earn wealth, and trustworthiness; because a slave may be strong and earn, yet not pay if he is not trustworthy, and he may be trustworthy yet not strong enough to earn, so he does not pay."
Al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "'If you know wealth in your slave' is not the apparent meaning of the words, for two reasons: first, wealth is not 'in' him, it is only 'with' him, whereas what is in him is the earning capacity that brings wealth; second, the wealth in his hands belongs to his master." He said: "Perhaps whoever held that khayr means wealth meant that the slave had earned wealth for his master by his labour, and this indicates that he would earn wealth by which he could be freed, just as he earned it before."

Ibn Abi Najih narrates from Mujahid and Tawus (may Allah have mercy on them both) concerning the saying of Allah Almighty "if you know any good in them" [Surah al-Nur: 33]: khayr (good) here means "wealth and trustworthiness."
(b) Yunus narrates from al-Hasan (may Allah have mercy on him) that it means truthfulness, fulfilling (obligations) completely, and trustworthiness.
(c) Mughirah narrates from Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him) that it means truthfulness and fulfilment.

Abu Salih (may Allah have mercy on him), regarding the saying of Allah Almighty: "If you know any good in them" [Surah al-Nur: 33], says that what is meant by it is paying (what is due) and trustworthiness. [Da'if]

Makhul (may Allah have mercy on him) says regarding this verse: "If you know any good in them" [Surah al-Nur: 33]: what is meant by it is earning wealth.

Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) says that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There are three people whom it is a duty upon Allah to help: 1. The one who strives in jihad in the path of Allah. 2. The one who marries for the sake of chastity. 3. The one who makes a contract of manumission (mukatabah) intending to pay it off."

Sayyiduna Jabir bin Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): "There are three people who, if they do something out of trust in Allah and seeking reward, it is a duty upon Allah to help them, and Allah will also bless their affairs.
1. The one who strives to free his neck (from slavery): out of trust in Allah and seeking reward, it is a duty upon Allah to help him, and his affair will be blessed.
2. The one who marries out of reliance on Allah and seeking reward: it is a duty upon Allah to help him, and his affair will be blessed.
3. The one who revives barren land out of reliance on Allah and seeking reward: it is also a duty upon Allah to help him, and his affair will be blessed."