ISLAM AND SLAVERY

One of the ways I have seen Muslim leaders promote Islam is by talking about the glory of the Islamic
civilization. The Islamic empire is said to be a system of justice and responsible for everything good in the
world. Very often when these claims are made the Western Christian civilization is criticised as corrupt
and brutal. This approach to promoting Islam is successful for a few reasons:

Most Westerners feel some shame over the history of their empires, and so when a speaker attacks
Western culture they acknowledge these faults.

Most Westerners have little knowledge of Islamic history, and so assume that what the Islamic leader
says about the Islamic empire must be true.

Hence in the study of Islam in the West, the dominant convention is that a critical approach is reserved
for the Christian past but forbidden for the Muslim past. ... The net result is a romantic picture of the
history of Islam avoiding and sometimes denying such issues as the jihadists’ slaughter and massive
enslavement of traditional African believers. (John Alembillah Azumah, The Legacy of Arab-Islam in
Africa, pp. xiv-xv.)

In this article I invite you to begin to learn about Islam's involvement in slavery. Islam has had a major
role in the history of slavery beginning with Muhammad, and taking slaves from Europe across to
Indonesia and down into Africa. But unlike the Western empires, Islam has never apologised and feels no
shame. In fact Muslim leaders boast of their empire as the "Golden Period" and hide its corruption and
brutality.

I wish to thank the Barnabas Fund for permission to publish this article. My added notes are enclosed in
[brackets].

ISLAM AND SLAVERY

First published by the Barnabas Fund in Barnabas Aid April-May 2007 ©2007. Used by permission.

The enslavement of human beings was practised by all the ancient civilisations of the Americas, Asia,
Europe, and Africa. People became slaves the property of others through debt, by being sold into slavery
by family members, by being captured in war, or through kidnapping by slave raiders and pirates.
Nowadays, when slavery as such is banned in almost every country, there are still situations where
people are effectively trapped in employment under harsh conditions. For example, they may be
"bonded labourers" in Pakistan, unable to change jobs because of debts to their employer. Another
scenario is that of expatriate domestic workers in Saudi Arabia, whose employers have seized their
passports, and who are locked in the house to prevent them escaping. Such individuals are slaves in all
but name. There are also still true slaves in some countries.

The European slave trade is well known, but that of Islam is not. Furthermore, Islam even played a part
in the European slave trade, as Arab traders were involved with African chiefs in the business of
providing Africans for the Europeans to enslave.

In the past, religions sought to justify the practice of slavery. Whilst, thankfully, most have rejected this
now, Islam stands out as the exception.

MUHAMMAD AND SLAVERY

Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, kept slaves. One of his biographers, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, states
that he had four slave girls and adds a list of 27 male slaves (some of whom he freed).

Many slaves were gained as booty after victorious military campaigns. After defeating a Jewish tribe
called the Banu Qurayza in 627, Muhammad executed all the men (numbering 600 to 900), and divided
the women and children among his people as slaves. On this occasion, he took Rihana, the wife of the
leader of the tribe, as a concubine. This story indicates the close linkage in classical Islam between
prisoners of war, slaves and concubines. A prisoner of war was automatically a slave, and if female she
was potentially a concubine as well.

Muhammad not only kept slaves and enslaved captives but also traded in African and other slaves[1], as
did his companions and many other people in the Arabian Peninsula at that time. He also received slaves
as gifts. One of his concubines, Mary the Copt (apparently a Christian), was given to him by the ruler of
Egypt.
The example of Muhammad, who is traditionally considered by Muslims the perfect model for their own
behaviour, has made any Islamic opposition to slavery diffcult. The argument that what he did was
normal and acceptable in society of that time but not in the modern world carries little or no weight
with conservative Muslims, who are interested only in copying Muhammad's example.

THE QUR'AN AND SLAVERY

The existence of slavery is accepted uncritically in the Qur'an, and slaves are often mentioned. Captive
women could be taken as concubines, special permission being granted to Muhammad to allow him to
do this in a Qur'anic verse:

O prophet! We have made lawful to thee thy wives to whom thou hast paid their dowers; and those
whom thy right hand possesses out of the prisoners of war whom Allah has assigned to thee; and
daughters of thy paternal uncles and aunts and daughters of thy maternal uncles and aunts who
migrated (from Mecca) with thee; and any believing woman who dedicates her soul to the Prophet if the
Prophet wishes to wed her this only for thee and not for the Believers (at large); We know what We have
appointed for them as to their wives and the captives whom their right hands possess in order that there
should be no diffculty for Thee. And Allah is OftForgiving Most Merciful (Qur'an 33:50, Yusef Ali)

This verse clearly shows that, according to the Qur'an, taking slaves in war was a God-given right. These
slaves were considered spoils of war, and the women were usually destined to be concubines of the
victorious warriors. Muhammad received his share in enslaved women.

The right of Muslims to have sexual intercourse with female slaves is indicated in Qur'an 23:1-6 which
gives Muslims sexual rights over their wives and over those "whom their right hands possess".

Many texts indicate that slaves can be used as a sort of currency to pay penalties imposed for the
misdemeanours of their owners. Qur'an 4:92, for example, explains that the manslaughter of a Muslim
could be paid for by freeing a believing (i.e. Muslim) slave and paying compensation to the relatives. If a
slave cannot be afforded then the penalty is a two months' fast.

While the Qur'an does not condemn slavery, it does encourage kindness to slaves. Qur'an 24:33 instructs
Muslims to allow a slave of good character to buy their freedom if they so request, and even tells the
slave-owner to contribute towards the sum to be raised. This verse also prohibits compelling unwilling
slave girls into prostitution.

... And if any of your slaves ask for a deed in writing (to enable them to earn their freedom for a certain
sum), give them such a deed, if you know any good in them; yea, give them something yourselves out of
the means which God has given to you. But force not your maids to prostitution when they desire
chastity....

The freeing of slaves is included in a list of virtuous acts (Q 90:12-13), and elsewhere the Qur'an
commends spending money to ransom slaves (Q 2:177).

[However, the Qur'an fosters an attitude of Islamic supremacy.

It is He who has sent His Messenger with the guidance and the religion of truth, that He may uplift it
above every religion (Qur’an 9:33, Arberry, 48:28-29, 61:9)

You (Muslims) are the best community that has been raised up for mankind. You enjoin right conduct
and forbid indecency; and you believe in Allah. And if the People of the Scripture had believed it had
been better for them. Some of them are believers; but most of them are evil-livers. (Qur'an 3:110,
Pickthall)

The result of this is that slavery seems acceptable and right.

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Verse:--"You (true Muslims) are the best of peoples ever raised up for
mankind."(3:110) means, the best of peoples for the people, as you bring them with chains on their
necks till they embrace Islam. (Sahih al-Bukhari: vol. 6, bk. 60, no. 80)

Slaves and slave boys are one of the many rewards promised to Muslims in paradise.

And there go round, waiting on them menservants of their own, as they were hidden pearls. (Qur'an
52:24, Pickthall)

There wait on them immortal youths. (Qur'an 56:17, Pickthall)

There wait on them immortal youths, whom, when thou seest, thou wouldst take for scattered pearls.
(Qur'an 76:19, Pickthall)

Since slavery is seen as a good reward in paradise there is no need to removed it in the present life.]

SHARI'A AND SLAVERY

The shari'a (Islamic law) has much to say about slaves, including the acquisition of slaves, slave-trading,
freeing slaves, the status of female slaves, and how to deal with runaway slaves and lost slaves. In wars
against non-Muslims, prisoners of war were to be killed, exchanged for Muslim prisoners of war, freed
for ransom, or enslaved. The women and children were to be similarly exchanged or enslaved. Many
rules concerning the practice of owners marrying slaves and taking slaves as concubines were outlined in
order to determine paternity and ownership of children born to a female slave. A slave concubine who
bore children to her master would be elevated to the status of um walad (mother of his child) and her
children would be equal to the legal offspring. She could not be sold and was freed on her master's
death. If a concubine was freed she could not have legal status as a wife, but would live with her master
as his mistress and her children would be illegitimate. There were also rules about slaves marrying each
other.

The four caliphs who came after Muhammad discouraged the enslavement of Muslims and it was
eventually prohibited, but the enslavement of non-Muslims continued apace. If a non-Muslim slave
converted to Islam he or she remained a slave. As an act of charity by the owner, however, a slave could
be emancipated but only a believing slave deserved freedom. In Muslim lands, a slave had few civil or
legal rights: a slave had no right to be heard in court; no right to property; any goods he did manage to
accumulate would be inherited by his master not his children. He could marry only with the permission
of the owner; he could not give alms or make a pilgrimage; he was considered a mere piece of property.

As in all contexts where slavery was practised, the actual treatment of slaves varied: some masters were
kind, and some were cruel.

ISLAMIC EXPANSION AND SLAVERY

As Islam expanded by conquest (jihad), extending within a few centuries from the Atlantic Ocean to the
Indian subcontinent, and spreading to south-east Asia, central Asia and Africa, large numbers of people
were enslaved. The supply of slaves had to be constantly replenished because there was a high death
rate amongst them. Furthermore, marriage amongst slaves was not encouraged, and in any case many
male slaves were castrated (an operation which was often fatal). But Muslims and non-Muslim minorities
living under the protection of the Islamic state could not be enslaved. So the need for more slaves
became a motive for continuing to expand and conquer non-Muslim territories.

A vast network of slave trading developed. Within Islamic territories there were slaves from central Asia,
from the Byzantine Empire, from sub-Saharan Africa and from Europe. As far afield as Indonesia the
business of seizing and selling slaves flourished, with the Muslim Acehnese active in "manhunting" even
in the early 20th century.

As well as domestic duties, agriculture and concubinage, some were used as soldiers. These slave-
soldiers included the Turkic Mamelukes who eventually became a powerful force within Islam and set up
their own states.

High prices were paid for eunuchs, and the practice of castration persisted from the 9th century until the
early 20th century. Islam prohibits physical mutilation so many eunuchs were castrated before entering
Islamic territory.

The slave trade became a great source of wealth and power to Muslim states, and remained an
important part of the economy of parts of the Muslim world well into the 20th century.

[The jihad slave system included contingents of both sexes delivered annually in conformity with the
treaties of submission by sovereigns who were tributaries of the caliph. When Amr conquered Tripoli
(Libya) in 643, he forced the Jewish and Christian Berbers to give their wives and children as slaves to the
Arab army as part of their jizya. From 652 until its conquest in 1276, Nubia was forced to send an annual
contingent of slaves to Cairo. Treaties concluded with the towns of Transoxiana, Sijistan, Armenia, and
Fezzan (Maghreb) under the Umayyads and Abbasids stipulated the annual dispatch of slaves from both
sexes.

However, the main sources for the supply of slaves remained the regular raids on villages within the dar
al-harb and the military expeditions which swept more deeply into the infidel lands, emptying towns and
provinces of their inhabitants. This strategy, practiced from the beginning of the Arabo-Islamic expansion
by the first four caliphs and then by the Umayyads and their successor, remained constant over all the
areas covered by jihad. The depopulation and desertification of once-flourishing and densely peopled
regions, described in full by Muslim and Christian chroniclers, was the result of the massive deportation
of captives. Musa b. Nusayr brought back thirty thousand prisoners from his expeditions to Spain (714).
(Bat Ye'or, The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam - From Jihad to Dhimmitude, pp. 108-109.)

Slavery in general and black enslavement in particular thus developed into a deeply entrenched
institution, accepted in the mainline Muslim heritage by learned Muslim lawyers and pious believers as a
matter of course. Right from the conquest of Egypt by Arab armies between 639 and 642 CE, the “land of
the Blacks”, bilad al-Sudan, became a reservoir of slave for the Muslim world. The main sources of
slavers were war (jihad), raid, tribute, purchase and kidnapping. (John Alembillah Azumah, The Legacy of
Arab-Islam in Africa, p. 141.)

The holiest city of Islam, Mecca, became “the centre of slave-trade in the world” and remained so well
into the twentieth century; from there slaves captured and brought from East Africa and the Sudan were
distributed to all parts of Arabia and the Muslim world. (John Alembillah Azumah, The Legacy of Arab-
Islam in Africa, p. 146.)]

SLAVERY IN INDIA

The Arabs were the first invaders of India to capture and enslave large numbers of its inhabitants. In the
7th and 8th centuries, and later under the Ghaznavids (962-1187), huge numbers of Hindus became
slaves. Many more were enslaved under the Delhi Sultanate (1206-1526), the Timurid jihad (1398), and
the Mughals (1526-1857). K.S. Lal claims that the slave-taking added significantly to the growth of the
Muslim population in India: "... every slave captured in war or purchased in the market or sent in lieu of
revenue or tribute was invariably converted to Islam, so that slave-taking in medieval India was the most
flourishing and successful missionary endeavour."

The nobility owned huge numbers of slaves and maintained large slave armies. For example, a 14th
century sultan kept 180,000 slaves of whom 40,000 were palace guards. In this situation of abundance
the price of female slaves was very low. The large numbers of slaves captured in campaigns were either
sold in local markets or sent to markets in central Asia.