1244 – Umm Salamah (may Allah be pleased with her) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “If any one of you women owns a contracted slave (mukātab) and he possesses the amount needed to pay off his installments, she must observe the veil from him.” Recorded by Aḥmad and the Four; al-Tirmidhī declared it authentic. (1)

Degree of authenticity
This ḥadīth is subject to scholarly dispute; some have graded it sound, while others have criticized it.
It was transmitted by Aḥmad, al-Tirmidhī, Abū Dāwūd, Ibn Mājah, Ibn Ḥibbān, al-Ḥākim, and al-Bayhaqī through the chain of al-Zuhrī, from Nabḥān, the freedman of Umm Salamah, from her.
Al-Tirmidhī said: “A ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ ḥadīth.”
Al-Ḥākim said: “Its chain is sound,” and al-Dhahabī concurred. Ibn Ḥajar cited it in al-Talkhīṣ without comment.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī noted that several leading scholars have spoken critically of this ḥadīth.
Al-Albānī remarked: “Nabḥān is listed by al-Dhahabī in Dhayl al-Ḍuʿafāʾ. Ibn Ḥazm judged him unknown; al-Bayhaqī also hinted at his anonymity, and al-Shāfiʿī said: ‘I have not seen any scholar who upholds this ḥadīth.’”
And I say: One indication of the ḥadīth’s weakness is that the Mothers of the Believers acted contrary to it.

Lessons derived from the two ḥadīths
1 – Together with the Noble Verse, “Then contract with them if you know there is good in them” (Q 24:33), the two reports establish the principle