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Qurʾān Bukhārī Muslim Nasāʾī Abū Dāwūd Tirmidhī Ibn Mājah Mālik Aḥmad Dārimī Ḥākim Ibn Ḥibbān Ṭabarānī Nasāʾī's Kubrá Bayhaqī al-Luʾluʾ wa-al-Marjān Ibn Rajab's Fifty Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn Aḥmad's Zuhd Suyūṭī
bayhaqi:15806 – Abū ʿAbdullāh al-Ḥāfiẓ > Abū al-Walīd al-Faqīh > al-Ḥasan b. Sufyān > Abū Bakr b. Abū Shaybah > ʿAbdullāh b. Numayr > Sufyān > Salamah b. Kuhayl > Muʿāwiyah b. Sūwayd

I slapped a slave belonging to us and then fled away. I came back just before noon and offered prayer behind my father. He called him (the slave) and me and said: Do as he has done to you. He granted pardon. He (my father) then said: We belonged to the family of Muqarrin during the lifetime of Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him. and had only one slave-girl and one of us slapped her. This news reached Allah's Apostle ﷺ and he said: Set her free. They (the members of the family) said: There is no other servant except she. Thereupon he said: Then employ her and when you can afford to dispense with her services, then set her free. (Using translation from Muslim 1658a)   

البيهقي:١٥٨٠٦ – أَخْبَرَنَا أَبُو عَبْدِ اللهِ الْحَافِظُ أَخْبَرَنِي أَبُو الْوَلِيدِ الْفَقِيهُ ثنا الْحَسَنُ بْنُ سُفْيَانَ ثنا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ ثنا عَبْدُ اللهِ بْنُ نُمَيْرٍ ثنا سُفْيَانُ عَنْ سَلَمَةَ بْنِ كُهَيْلٍ عَنْ مُعَاوِيَةَ بْنِ سُوَيْدٍ قَالَ

لَطَمْتُ مَوْلًى لَنَا فَهَرَبْتُ ثُمَّ جِئْتُ قُبَيْلَ الظُّهْرِ فَصَلَّيْتُ خَلْفَ أَبِي فَدَعَاهُ وَدَعَانِي ثُمَّ قَالَ اقْتَصَّ مِنْهُ فَعَفَا ثُمَّ قَالَ كُنَّا بَنِي مُقَرِّنٍ عَلَى عَهْدِ رَسُولِ اللهِ ﷺ لَيْسَ لَنَا إِلَّا خَادِمٌ وَاحِدٌ فَلَطَمَهَا أَحَدُنَا فَبَلَغَ ذَلِكَ النَّبِيَّ ﷺ فَقَالَ أَعْتِقُوهَا قَالُوا لَيْسَ لَهُمْ خَادِمٌ غَيْرُهَا قَالَ فَلْيَسْتَخْدِمُوهَا وَإِذَا اسْتَغْنَوْا عَنْهَا فَخَلُّوا سَبِيلَهَا  

رَوَاهُ مُسْلِمٌ فِي الصَّحِيحِ عَنْ أَبِي بَكْرِ بْنِ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ وَفِي هَذَا كَالدَّلَالَةِ عَلَى أَنَّ الْأَمْرَ بِالْإِعْتَاقِ أَمْرُ نَدْبٍ وَاسْتِحْبَابٍ وَاللهُ أَعْلَمُ

See similar narrations below:

Collected by Muslim, Aḥmad
muslim:1658a – [Chain 1] Abū Bakr b. Abū Shaybah > ʿAbdullāh b. Numayr [Chain 2] Ibn Numayr from my father > Sufyān > Salamah b. Kuhayl > Muʿāwiyah b. Sūwayd

I slapped a slave belonging to us and then fled away. I came back just before noon and offered prayer behind my father. He called him (the slave) and me and said: Do as he has done to you. He granted pardon. He (my father) then said: We belonged to the family of Muqarrin during the lifetime of Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him. and had only one slave-girl and one of us slapped her. This news reached Allah's Apostle ﷺ and he said: Set her free. They (the members of the family) said: There is no other servant except she. Thereupon he said: Then employ her and when you can afford to dispense with her services, then set her free.  

مسلم:١٦٥٨a – حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ نُمَيْرٍ ح وَحَدَّثَنَا ابْنُ نُمَيْرٍ وَاللَّفْظُ لَهُ حَدَّثَنَا أَبِي حَدَّثَنَا سُفْيَانُ عَنْ سَلَمَةَ بْنِ كُهَيْلٍ عَنْ مُعَاوِيَةَ بْنِ سُوَيْدٍ قَالَ

لَطَمْتُ مَوْلًى لَنَا فَهَرَبْتُ ثُمَّ جِئْتُ قُبَيْلَ الظُّهْرِ فَصَلَّيْتُ خَلْفَ أَبِي فَدَعَاهُ وَدَعَانِي ثُمَّ قَالَ امْتَثِلْ مِنْهُ فَعَفَا ثُمَّ قَالَ كُنَّا بَنِي مُقَرِّنٍ عَلَى عَهْدِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ ﷺ لَيْسَ لَنَا إِلاَّ خَادِمٌ وَاحِدَةٌ فَلَطَمَهَا أَحَدُنَا فَبَلَغَ ذَلِكَ النَّبِيَّ ﷺ فَقَالَ أَعْتِقُوهَا قَالُوا لَيْسَ لَهُمْ خَادِمٌ غَيْرُهَا قَالَ فَلْيَسْتَخْدِمُوهَا فَإِذَا اسْتَغْنَوْا عَنْهَا فَلْيُخَلُّوا سَبِيلَهَا  

ahmad:15705 – Ibn Numayr > Sufyān > Salamah > Muʿāwiyah b. Sūwayd

[Machine] "I slapped our slave, then I came to my father in the noon and prayed with him. When he finished, he took my hand and said, 'Be obedient to him', and he forgave. Then he began to tell a story, he said, 'We were children, raised in the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ . We were seven and we had only one servant. One of us slapped her, and the news reached the Prophet ﷺ . He said, 'Set her free.' They said, 'We have no other servant.' He said, 'Then let them use her services. When they have no need for her, let her go.'"  

أحمد:١٥٧٠٥ – حَدَّثَنَا ابْنُ نُمَيْرٍ حَدَّثَنَا سُفْيَانُ عَنْ سَلَمَةَ عَنْ مُعَاوِيَةَ بْنِ سُوَيْدٍ قَالَ

لَطَمْتُ مَوْلًى لَنَا ثُمَّ جِئْتُ وَأَبِي فِي الظُّهْرِ فَصَلَّيْتُ مَعَهُ فَلَمَّا سَلَّمَ أَخَذَ بِيَدِي فَقَالَ امْتَثِلْ مِنْهُ فَعَفَا ثُمَّ أَنْشَأَ يُحَدِّثُ قَالَ كُنَّا وَلَدَ مُقَرِّنٍ عَلَى عَهْدِ رَسُولِ اللهِ ﷺ سَبْعَةً لَيْسَ لَنَا إِلَّا خَادِمٌ وَاحِدَةٌ فَلَطَمَهَا أَحَدُنَا فَبَلَغَ النَّبِيَّ ﷺ فَقَالَ أَعْتِقُوهَا فَقَالُوا لَيْسَ لَنَا خَادِمٌ غَيْرُهَا قَالَ فَلْيَسْتَخْدِمُوهَا فَإِذَا اسْتَغْنَوْا فَلْيُخَلُّوا سَبِيلَهَا