Zadhan Abl Umar reported: I came to Ibn 'Umar as he had granted freedom to a slave. He (the narrator further) said: He took hold of a wood or something like it from the earth and said: It (freedom of a slave) has not the reward evert equal to it, but the fact that I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) say: He who slaps his slave or beats him, the expiation for it is that he should set him free.
Related hadith on this topic
Explanation & Benefits
Shaykh Maulana Abdul Aziz Alvi
Hadith Commentary:
Benefits and Issues:
This hadith establishes that one should treat slaves with kindness and gentleness,
and it is not permissible to beat them or subject them to pain and suffering over minor faults.
And if a master commits injustice or excess against his servant,
then the preferred course of action for him is to set the servant free,
so that his injustice and excess may be remedied.
However, by consensus, freeing the slave is not obligatory;
it is an excellent method.
Yes,
if he has caused the slave significant harm,
such as cutting off a limb,
burning,
or rendering him useless,
then according to Imam Malik and Imam Layth, freeing the slave becomes obligatory.
Source: Tuhfat al-Muslim: Commentary on Sahih Muslim, Page: 4298
Shaykh Umar Farooq Saeedi
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