What has come in Reference to Slaves

‘My father once struck his servant boy with a single whip. He had sent him on an errand but he delayed [in doing what was required]. So the servant boy cried and said, ‘Allah! O ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn, you send me on an errand and then strike me?!’ So my father began to cry and said [to me], ‘O my son, go to the grave of the Messenger of Allah (ṣ) and offer two rakʿahs of prayer, and then say, “O Allah, forgive ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn for his mistake on the Day of Judgment.”’ Then he told the servant boy, ‘Go, for you are free in the way of Allah!’” Abū Baṣīr said, “I asked him, ‘May I be your ransom! Was the emancipation [of his servant] an expiation for the sin?’ But he remained silent.”

“I heard Abā ʿAbdillāh (a) say, ‘[It is written] in the book of the Messenger of Allah (ṣ)[1]: When you employ what your right hand possesses[2] for something that is difficult for them, then work with them [and assist them] in it.’ He [also] said, ‘Verily my father would instruct them saying, “Stay as you are [and wait for me],” then he would come and see [the work]. If it was heavy [and difficult], he would say bismillāh and then he would [join them and] work with them, but if it was light, he would leave them [to do it themselves].’”

“I was once sitting in the presence of the Messenger of Allah (ṣ) when a man came to him and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, [what do you say about] the slave?’ So the Messenger of Allah (ṣ) said, ‘He has been tested by you and you have been tested by him, so that Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, may see how grateful you are and how patient he is.’”

“A man from the Banī Fahd [once] passed by the Messenger of Allah (ṣ) as he was beating a slave of his, and the slave was crying out, ‘I seek refuge with Allah!’ yet the man did not desist from [beating] him. When the slave saw the Messenger of Allah (ṣ), he said, ‘I seek refuge with Muḥammad!’ so the man stopped beating him. [Seeing this,] the Messenger of Allah (ṣ) said, ‘He seeks refuge with Allah but you do not leave him, yet when he seeks refuge with Muḥammad you leave him? This is while one who seeks refuge with Allah is more deserving of being pardoned than [one who seeks refuge with] Muḥammad!’ So the man [felt remorse and] said, ‘He is free for the sake of Allah!’ The Messenger of Allah (ṣ) said, ‘By the One who sent me as a Prophet with truth, if you had not done so, your face would have fallen into the heat of the Fire.’”

5.Al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī said, “I heard Abā al-Ḥasan (a) say, ‘ʿAlī ibn al- Ḥusayn (a) struck a slave [of his], then he entered his house and came out with a whip. He then took off his shirt and said to him, ‘Whip ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn [for his having struck you]!’ but the servant refused, so he gave him fifty dīnārs.”[1]