Salih bin Salih bin Hiyy Hamdani said: I was with Imam Sha’bi, may Allah have mercy on him, when a man from Khurasan came to him and said:“O Abu ‘Amr! Among us in Khurasan, people say that a man who frees his slave woman and then marries her is like a man riding on his camel.”Imam Sha’bi, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Abu Burdah bin Abu Musa narrated to me that his father said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said:“There are three people who will be given a double reward. First, a person from the People of the Book who believed in his Prophet, then he found the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, and believed in him and followed him. Second, a slave who fulfilled the rights of Allah and the rights of his masters; for him is a double reward. Third, a man who has a slave woman, gives her the best food, teaches her the best manners, then frees her and marries her; for him also is a double reward.”Then Imam Sha’bi, may Allah have mercy on him, said to Salih: Memorize this hadith which we have narrated to you free of charge, otherwise people used to travel to Madinah to hear such a hadith. Hushaym said: When I heard about this hadith in Basrah, I went to them and asked about this hadith.

Abu Burdah narrated from his father, and he from the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), a similar hadith.