It is narrated from Sayyida Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), a narrator says: Some of our elders have narrated to us that it is narrated from Ziyad, the slave of Abdullah bin Abbad, and he narrates from a Companion that a man came and sat before the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: O Messenger of Allah! I have some slaves, they lie to me, betray me, and disobey me. Then I beat them and abuse them. Now, what is the matter between me and them? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: Punishing them for their betrayal, disobedience, and lying—if this punishment is less than their crime, then you will have superiority over them; if this punishment is equal to their sins, then the matter will be even, there will be nothing in your favor nor against you; but if this punishment exceeds their crime, then you will be requited for the excess punishment. Hearing this, the man began to cry and wail before the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: What has happened to him, has he not read the saying of Allah Almighty: {وَنَضَعُ الْمَوَازِینَ الْقِسْطَ لِیَوْمِ الْقِیَامَۃِ فَلَا تُظْلَمُ نَفْسٌ شَیْئًا وَإِنْ کَانَ مِثْقَالَ حَبَّۃٍ مِنْ خَرْدَلٍ أَتَیْنَا بِہَا وَکَفٰی بِنَا حَاسِبِینَ} … And We shall set up just balances on the Day of Resurrection, so that no soul will be wronged in anything. And if there be (even) the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it forth. And sufficient are We as Reckoners. (Surah Al-Anbiya: 47) Hearing this, the man said: O Messenger of Allah! To me, it is better that I separate from these slaves. Now, I make you a witness that all of them are free.

Narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him), he says: I was beating one of my slaves when a man called out to me from behind and said: Abu Mas’ud! Be mindful, Abu Mas’ud! Be mindful. When I turned towards him, I saw that it was the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: By Allah! As much power as you have over this slave, Allah Almighty has more power over you than that. Hearing this, I swore that I would never beat any slave again.

(Second chain) It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that he was beating his slave. The Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: By Allah! Allah Almighty has more power over you than you have over him. He said: O Messenger of Allah! I free him for the pleasure of Allah Almighty.

Zadhan says that Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) called one of his slaves and set him free, and while picking up something from the ground and pointing towards it, he said: In this act, there is not even as much reward for me, because I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say that whoever slaps his slave, its expiation is that he should set him free.

Sayyiduna Muawiyah bin Hakam Sulami (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates one of his hadiths: I had a slave girl who used to graze my sheep towards Uhud and Jawaniyah. One day, when I made a sudden visit to her, I saw that a wolf had taken away one of the sheep. I am a human being and, like humans, I get angry, so I struck her forcefully. When I came to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and related this incident to him, he considered my striking her to be a very grave (offense) on my part. I said: O Messenger of Allah! Should I not set her free? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Bring her to me. So I brought her to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He asked her: Where is Allah? She replied: In the heavens. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: Who am I? She replied: You are the Messenger of Allah. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Set her free, for she is a believer. The narrator once reported it in these words: She is a believer, so set her free.

It is narrated from Muawiyah bin Suwaid, he says: I slapped one of my slaves, then when I came, my father was leading the Zuhr prayer, I prayed with him, when he finished the prayer, he held my hand and said to the slave: Take retribution from him, but he forgave me. Then he began to narrate this hadith: In the time of the Prophet, we were seven individuals from the descendants of Muqrin, and we had only one slave girl. One of us slapped her. When the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) found out about this, he said: Set her free. We said: O Messenger of Allah, we have only this one slave girl. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Then let these people take service from her, but as soon as they become well-off, set her free.

(Second Chain) It is narrated from Sayyiduna Suwaid bin Muqarrin (may Allah be pleased with him) that a man slapped a slave girl belonging to the family of Suwaid bin Muqarrin. Sayyiduna Suwaid (may Allah be pleased with him) said to him: Do you not know that the face is sacred? I was the seventh among my brothers, meaning we were seven brothers and we had only one maidservant. When one of us slapped her, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded us to set her free.