Abu 'Umar Zadhan said, "We were with Ibn 'Umar when he summoned
a slave of his whom he had beaten and he uncovered his back. 'Does it hurt?'
he asked. 'No,' he replied. Then he set him free. He picked up a stick
from the ground and then said, 'I do not have a reward (for him) worth
as much as this stick.' I asked, 'Abu 'Abdu'r-Rahman, why do you say this?'
He replied, 'I heard the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,
say, "The expiation of someone who beats a slave more than he deserves
or slaps his face is that he must set him free."'"
Abu Layla said, "Salman went out and when his animal fodder fell
from the manger, he told his servant, 'If it were not that I fear retaliation,
I would make you hurt (i.e. by beating you)."
حَدَّثَنَا عَمْرُو بْنُ مَرْزُوقٍ، قَالَ: أَخْبَرَنَا شُعْبَةُ قَالَ لِي مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْمُنْكَدِرِ: مَا اسْمُكَ؟ فَقُلْتُ: شُعْبَةُ قَالَ: حَدَّثَنِي أَبُو شُعْبَةَ، عَنْ سُوَيْدِ بْنِ مُقَرِّنٍ الْمُزَنِيِّ، وَرَأَى رَجُلاً لَطَمَ غُلاَمَهُ، فَقَالَ: أَمَا عَلِمْتَ أَنَّ الصُّورَةَ مُحَرَّمَةٌ؟ رَأَيْتُنِي وَإِنِّي سَابِعُ سَبْعَةِ إِخْوَةٍ، عَلَى عَهْدِ رَسُولِ اللهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم، مَا لَنَا إِلاَّ خَادِمٌ، فَلَطَمَهُ أَحَدُنَا، فَأَمَرَنَا النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم أَنْ نُعْتِقَهُ.
Shu'ba said, "Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir said to me, 'What is your
name?' I replied, 'Shu'ba.' He said, 'Abu Shu'ba related to me that when
Suwayd ibn Muqarrin al-Muzani saw a man strike his slave, he said. 'Do
you not know that the face is forbidden? In the time of the Messenger of
Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, we were seven brothers
and we only had one servant. Then one of us slapped him (sic.) and the
Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, commanded that we set
him free.'"
