Zadhan said: I came to Ibn Umar when he set his slave free. He took a stick or something else from the earth and said; for me there is no reward even equivalent to this. I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: If anyone slaps or beats his slave the atonement due from him is to set him free.
Hadith Referenceسنن ابي داود / أبواب النوم / 5168
Hadith Gradingالألبانی:صحيح | زبیر علی زئی:صحيح مسلم (1657), َدَّثَنَا مُسَدَّدٌ وَأَبُو كَامِلٍ،قَالَ:
Hadith Takhrij« صحیح مسلم/الأیمان 8 (1657)، (تحفة الأشراف: 6717)، وقد أخرجہ: مسند احمد (2/25، 45، 61) (صحیح) »
Benefits and Issues: Islam has abolished the system of slavery, which had been prevalent in human society for centuries, with great and subtle wisdom, by making the emancipation of slaves an expiation for mistakes committed from time to time. Thus, the believers made it their practice to free slaves in this manner. And they freed them to such an extent that now this category is almost extinct.
Source: Sunan Abu Dawood – Commentary by Shaykh Umar Farooq Saeedi, Page: 5168