Freeing a slave became cool in the early generations. The one who shows mercy is shown Mercy. The hereafter-oriented folk sought freedom from Divine rigor.
124- Sulaiman bin Musa narrated that during his caliphate, ‘Uthman was called upon once to reprove a group of people who engaged in an iniquitous act. When he came out of his house, the people had dispersed, ‘Uthman praised God Almighty for sparing him from such an encounter, and on that day, he bought the freedom of a slave as an expression of his deep gratitude to his Lord.”