She said, "Bareerah's husband was a slave, so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gave her the choice, and she chose herself. Had he been free, he would not have given her the choice."
قالت: كان زوج بريرة عبدا، فخيرها رسول الله ﷺ فاختارت نفسها، ولو كان حرا لم يخيرها.
Muslim narrated it in the Book of Divorce (1504: 9) through several routes from Jareer bin Abdul-Hameed, from Hisham bin Urwa, from his father, from Ayesha, as I have mentioned. Muslim said, after narrating it from a group who narrated from Hisham, "Except that in Jareer's hadith he said, and her husband was a slave, so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gave her the choice..." I say, this is an addition from a trustworthy narrator and it is accepted by the majority of scholars.As for what is reported from Amash, from Ibrahim, from Aswad, from Ayesha, that she freed Barira, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gave her the choice, and she had a free husband, this is a munkar report. Tirmidhi (1155) and Ibn Majah (2074) both narrated it through this route. Ibn Hibban (4271) narrated it through Mansur, from Ibrahim, from Aswad, from Ayesha, as I have mentioned. Then Aswad said, and her husband was free.Bukhari (6754) said, "Aswad's statement is disconnected, while Ibn Abbas's statement, 'I saw him, and he was a slave,' is more sahih." End of quote. That is, Aswad did not connect his statement directly to Ayesha, and he was not present at the incident, unlike Ibn Abbas, who was present at the event, as will appear in the hadith that follows.Moreover, Urwa's narration from his maternal aunt, and likewise Qasim's narration from his paternal aunt as found in Muslim (1504), are more reliable. Others followed them in their statement that "he was a slave," and their statement takes precedence over that of Aswad.Tirmidhi said, following Jareer's hadith, from Hisham, from his father, from Ayesha, "The hadith of Ayesha is a hasan sahih hadith. This is how Hisham narrated it, from his father, from Ayesha, who said, Barira's husband was a slave. And Ikrima narrated from Ibn Abbas, who said, I saw Barira's husband, and he was a slave called Mugheeth." He also said, "This is likewise how it was narrated from Ibn Umar, and this is the practice followed by some scholars, who said, if a slave woman is married to a free man and is then freed, she has no choice. She only has the choice if she is freed while married to a slave. This is the view of Shafii, Ahmad, and Ishaq."He then mentioned Aswad's statement, that her husband was free, and said, "This is the practice followed by some scholars among the successors and those after them, and it is the view of Sufyan Thawri and the people of Kufa." End of quote, meaning that according to the people of Iraq, the slave woman has the choice in both cases.