The Meaning of Freeing a Slave

Freeing a slave, O Shaykh, has become a point of difficulty for some of the listeners. They do not know its meaning, perhaps because they have not seen it in practice. For example, our brother asks and says: I ask about freeing a slave, as we often hear in the expiations that it says: "Free a slave," and we do not know what a slave is. Is it a person sentenced to death who is then pardoned, or is it an animal? Please inform us, may Allah reward you.
Answer: Freeing a slave means: freeing a male or female slave. Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, prescribed for His servants that if they fight the enemies of Islam and overcome them, their offspring and women become slaves owned by the Muslims. The Muslims may use them, benefit from them, sell them, and dispose of them as they wish. Likewise, if they take prisoners of war, the one in authority has the choice: if he wishes, he may kill the prisoners; if he wishes, he may free the prisoners if he sees the benefit in doing so and releases them; if he wishes, he may enslave them and make them war spoils; if he wishes, he may kill them if he sees the benefit in killing; and if he wishes, he may ransom them if there are Muslim prisoners among the disbelievers, ransoming them with them. He takes Muslim prisoners from the polytheists and gives them his prisoners, or he takes money from them to release his prisoners, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did on the day of Badr. There were prisoners with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); some were killed and some were ransomed. Among them were al-Nadr ibn al-Harith and 'Uqbah ibn Abi Mu'ayt, whom he killed after the battle ended. The rest were ransomed, and he ordered the Muslims to ransom them and take the ransom from the polytheists in exchange for their prisoners.
Some of them were pardoned by him, (peace and blessings be upon him). So pardon is permissible for the one in authority if he sees the benefit, and killing is permissible for him if he sees the benefit, and enslaving is permissible for him if he sees the benefit, and taking ransom is permissible, as He, Mighty and Majestic, said: [Muhammad:4].
These are the slaves: the slave owned by the Muslims when they overcome their enemy and subdue their disbelieving enemy, taking from them offspring, meaning: young children who have not reached puberty, whom they take, or women. These become slaves to the Muslims, owned by the Muslims, and are divided as war spoils among the victors, each receiving his share of these offspring and these women. Likewise, the adult male prisoners of war, if the one in authority enslaves them and makes them war spoils. If the Muslim victor has one, two, or three, he then has the choice: if he wishes, he may use them for his needs; if he wishes, he may sell them and benefit from their price; if he wishes, he may free them for Allah, Mighty and Majestic, as a voluntary act or out of generosity; or he may free them as an expiation, such as the expiation for killing... the expiation for intercourse in Ramadan... the expiation for zihar... the expiation for an oath. If he leaves them to use them, they become his slaves and are inherited after his death, like his other wealth.
This is the meaning of freeing a slave, meaning: freeing the slave that you, O Muslim, have owned through the war that took place between you and your enemy, until their children and women became your war spoils. The Muslims divided them among themselves, and each Muslim had his share of this war spoils, owned by him, to dispose of by selling or otherwise. If he frees him for Allah voluntarily or as an expiation, he has a reward for that, and by this the expiation is fulfilled. The freeing is called "freeing a slave." If he says: "I freed so-and-so for Allah," this means freeing a slave, whether it is for an expiation or voluntarily and out of generosity. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So freeing slaves has a great status and great virtue in the pure Shari'ah. Perhaps you, O questioner, have now known the meaning of freeing a slave and its liberation.