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How is it that Islam Allows Slavery?
By
Fethullah Gulen
Original Document Location:
http://www.teachislam.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1639&Itemid=328
 
There are historical, social and psychological dimensions to this question, which wemust work through patiently, if we are to arrive at a satisfactory answer.First of all, it is useful to recall why the institution of slavery is thought of or remembered with such revulsion. Images of the brutal treatment of slaves, especiallyin ancient Rome and Egypt, provokes sorrow and deep disgust. That is why even after so many centuries, our conception of slaves is of men and women carrying stones tothe pyramids and being used up in the building process like mortar, or fighting wildanimals in public arenas for the amusement of their owners. We picture slaveswearing shameful yokes and chains around their necks. Nearer modern times there is the practice of slavery on an enormous scale by theWestern European nations; the barbarity and bestiality of this trade beggars alldescription. The trade was principally in Africans who were transported across theoceans, packed in specially designed ships, thought of and treated exactly likelivestock. These slaves were forced to change their names and abandon their religionand their language, were never entitled to hope for freedom, and were kept, again likelivestock, for hard labouring or for breeding purposes-a birth among them wascelebrated as if it were a death. It is difficult to understand how human beings couldconceive of fellow human beings in such a light, still less treat them thus. But itcertainly happened: there is much documentary evidence that shows, for example,how ship-masters would throw their human cargo overboard in order to claimcompensation for their loss. Slaves had no rights in law, only obligations; their ownershad absolute rights over them to dispose of them as they wished-brothers and sisters, parents and children, would be separated or allowed to stay together according to theowner’s mood or his economic convenience.After centuries of this dreadful practice had made the West European nations richfrom exploitation of such commodities as sugar, cotton, coffee, they abolishedslavery-they abolished it, with much self-congratulation, first as a trade, thenaltogether. Yet the Muslim regions had also known considerable prosperity throughthe exploitation of sugar, cotton, coffee (these words in European languages are of Arabic origin), and achieved that prosperity without the use of slave labour. Moreimportant, let us also note, when the Europeans abolished slavery, it was the slave-owners who were compensated, not the slaves-in other words, the attitude to fellowhuman beings which allowed such treatment of them had not changed. It was notmany years after the abolition of slavery that Africa was directly colonized by theEuropeans with consequences for the Africans no less terrible than slavery itself.Further, because the attitude to non-Europeans has changed little, if at all, in moderntimes, their social and political condition remains, even where they live amid theEuropeans and their descendants as fellow-citizens, that of despised inferiors. It is barely a couple of decades since the anthropological museums in the great capitals of the Western countries ceased to display, for public entertainment, the bones andstuffed bodies of their fellow human beings. And such displays were not organized bythe worst among them, but by the best-the scientists, doctors, learned men,humanitarians.In short, it is not only the institution of slavery that causes revulsion in the humanheart, it is the attitudes of inhumanity which sustain it. And the truth is, if the
 
institution no longer formally exists but the attitudes persist, then humanity has notgained much, if at all. That is why colonial exploitation replaced slavery, and why thechains of unbearable, unrepayable international debt have replaced colonialexploitation: only slavery has gone, its structures of inhumanity and barbarism arestill securely in place. Before we turn to the Islamic perspective on slavery, let usrecall a name famous even among Western Europeans, that of Harun al-Rashid, andlet us recall that this man who enjoyed such authority and power over all Muslimswas the son of a slave. Nor is he the only such example; slaves and their childrenenjoyed enormous prestige, authority, respect and (shall we say it) freedom, within theIslamic system, in all areas of life, cultural as well as political. How could this havecome about?Islam amended and educated the institution of slavery and the attitudes of masters toslaves. The Qur’an taught in many verses that all human beings are descended from asingle ancestor, that none has an intrinsic right of superiority over another, whatever his race or his nation or his social standing. And from the Prophet’s teaching, uponhim be peace, the Muslims learnt these principles, which they applied both as lawsand as social norms:Whosoever kills his slave: he shall be killed. Whosoever imprisons his slave andstarves him, he shall be imprisoned and starved himself, and whosoever castrates hisslave shall himself be castrated. (Abu Dawud, Diyat, 70; Tirmidhi, Diyat, 17; Al- Nasa’i, Qasama, 10, 16)You are sons of Adam and Adam was created from clay. (Tirmidhi, Tafsir, 49;Manaqib, 73; Abu Dawud, Adab, 111)You should know that no Arab is superior over a non-Arab and, no non-Arab issuperior over any Arab, no white is superior over black and no black is superior over white. Superiority is by righteousness and God-fearing [alone]. (Ibn Hanbal, Musnad,411)Because of this compassionate attitude, those who had lived their whole lives asslaves and who are described in ahadith as poor and lowly received respect from thosewho enjoyed high social status (Muslim, Birr, 138; Jannat, 48; Tirmidhi, Manaqib, 54,65). ‘Umar was expressing his respect in this sense when he said: ‘Master Bilal whomMaster Abu Bakr set free’ (Bukhari, Fada’il al-Sahaba, 23). Islam (unlike other civilizations) requires that slaves are thought of and treated as within the framework of universal human brotherhood, and not as outside it. The Prophet, upon him be peace, said:Your servants and your slaves are your brothers. Anyone who has slaves should givethem from what he eats and wears. He should not charge them with work beyond their capabilities. If you must set them to hard work, in any case I advise you to help them.(Bukhari, Iman, 22; Adab, 44; Muslim, Iman, 38–40; Abu Dawud, Adab, 124) Not one of you should [when introducing someone] say ‘This is my slave’, ‘This ismy concubine’. He should call them ‘my daughter’ or ‘my son’ or ‘my brother’.(Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 2, 4)For this reason ‘Umar and his servant took it in turns to ride on the camel fromMadina to Jerusalem on their journey to take control of Masjid al-Aqsa. While he wasthe head of the state, ‘Uthman had his servant pull his own ears in front of the people
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