When Islam was reveled to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), slavery was a worldwide common social phenomenon; it was much older than Islam. Slavery was deeply rooted in every society to the extent that it was impossible to imagine a civilized society without slaves.
In spite of this social fact, Islam was the first religion to recognize slavery as a social illness that needed to be addressed. Since slavery was deeply rooted in the society, Islam did not abolish it at once. Rather, Islam treated slavery in the same manner it treated other social illnesses. Islam followed the same methodology of gradual elimination in dealing with this social disease as it did with other social illnesses, for example: the prohibition of alcohol in three steps.
Concerning having slave women, we would like to let you know that it happens to be a practice necessitated by the condition in which early Muslims found themselves vis-a-vis non-Muslims, as both parties engaged in wars. Slave women or milk al-yameen are referred to in the Qur'an as %u201CThose whom your right hand possess%u201D or %u201Cma malakat aymanukum%u201D; they are those taken as captives during conquests and subsequently became slaves, or those who were descendants of slaves.
Thus, it was a war custom in the past to take men and women as captives and then turn them into slaves. Islam did not initiate it, rather, it was something in practice long ago before the advent of Islam. And when Islam came, it tried to eradicate this practice, bit by bit. So it first restricted it to the reciprocal practice of war, in the sense that Muslims took war captives just as the enemies did with Muslims.
But as it aimed at putting an end to such issue, Islam laid down rules which would eventually lead to eradicating the practice. So it allowed Muslims to have intercourse with slave women taken as captives of just and legitimate wars. In so doing, the woman would automatically become free if she got pregnant. What's more, her child would also become free.
Not only that, Islam also ordered a Muslim to treat the slave woman in every respect as if she were his wife. She should be well fed, clothed and given due protection. In the family environment, she had the opportunity to learn about Islam and was free to accept it or reject it. She also had the opportunity to earn her freedom for she could be ransomed.
In the light of the above-mentioned facts, and the nature of the question posed by people, it's clear that some people misunderstand the wisdom behind the permissibility of having female slaves and think that it is meant to unleash men%u2019s desires and give them more enjoyment. Never! That is not the point! It is, rather, means of freeing slaves; and this is clarified above in the fact that if a master got a female slave pregnant, then he could neither sell her nor give her away as a present. And if he died, she would not be considered part of his property. She'd receive her freedom and her baby would also be free.
we should know that this case should not be confused with that of female servants or maids, for they were free and not slaves.Therefore, it was forbidden to engage in sexual relations with them except through an Islamic marriage.
Islam gradually eradicated slavery. Today slavery is prohibitted in Islam and scholars agreed that previous ruling is not the ruling for today.
Could you please shed light on the issue of slavery and Islam ? Browning
Dear Mr. Browning
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
First of all, we would like to thank you for the great confidence you have in us. We hope our efforts meet your expectations.
First of all, we would like to stress that Islam caters for rights of every creature. It urges a Muslim to show good and kind treatment to anyone under his/her control; he should neither maltreat him or her nor should he subject him/her to any form of exploitation.
Islam totally objects and fights all forms of slavery. The focus of Islam in all its teachings and rites was to eradicate this prevailing practice. Now, slavery has been abolished by international conventions, and this goes in line with the goals of Islam.
Responding to the question, Dr. Taha Jaber Al-`Alwani, president of the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences and president of the Fiqh Council, states:
When Allah created human beings, He created them to be free and to be vicegerents on the earth. Slavery is something that came from people who couldn%u2019t understand the position of the human being and it was made, in the past, as a global phenomenon.
When Islam came, it tried to bring change to get the human being back to being free, as Allah has created us, by certain procedures. Those procedures of Islam went through without interference from the other nations or states who are non-Muslim states or nations. Maybe within the third century of Hijrah or the migration of the Prophet to Madinah, this phenomenon would have been over and disappeared. But as I mentioned, because it was a global phenomenon, that procedure which was established by Islam couldn%u2019t go through and finish with this very bad phenomenon.
Now, al-hamdulillah all people have agreed to stop this phenomenon and stand up against it. With this, there is no way to go back to adopt this phenomenon again in any way, especially for Muslims, since they must protect the freedom of others and always be with their rights to be free servants of Allah only. We should remember when the Caliph `Umar Ibn Al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) said in a famous khutbah (speech or sermon) of his, %u201CWhen did you make the people as slaves or servants of you while Allah, the Almighty, created them free!%u201D
This means that the Muslims from the very beginning advocated the freedom of all human beings and were against the oppression of free people by tyrants and dictator leaders.%u201D
Having clarified the above, we would like to state that it was a war custom in the past to take men and women as captives and then turn them into slaves. Islam did not initiate it, rather, it was something in practice long ago before the advent of Islam. And when Islam came, it tried to eradicate this practice, bit by bit. So it first restricted it to the reciprocal practice of war, in the sense that Muslims took war captives just as the enemies did with them.
There are difinite game plan for those spreading rumours and relgious animosity....devide OBCs and Muslims into separate warring camps and get vote banks in the guise of saffron politics.The game was started in the 1920s after getting tutorial from Benitto Mussolini..the Grand Italian Connection of the Indian Aryan Invaders.
Romila Thapar of the prestigious A History of India (Penguin), writes: 'Aurangzeb's supposed intolerance is little more than a hostile legend based on isolated acts such as the erection of a mosque on a temple site in Benares.' L'histoire de l'Inde moderne (Fayard), the French equivalent of Percival Spear's history of India, praises Aurangzeb and says, 'He has been maligned by Hindu fundamentalists'. Even Indian politicians are ignorant of Aurangzeb's evil deeds. Nehru might have known about them, but for his own reasons he chose to keep quiet and instructed his historians to downplay Aurangzeb's destructive drive and instead praise him as a benefactor of arts.
History means story of the past.We have to live in the present with communal harmony and progress while fighting religious fundamentalism from all quarters.History teaches us that fundamentalism is and was a bar to progress and modern living always.
RE:Spreading Religious Animosity......
by Truth Finder on Apr 15, 2007 08:40 PM Permalink
Did you read his message and understand what he has said. We people of cave is more civilized and more gentlemen. I have read about Ms Ridley the British Journalist. She was the captive of these Muslims Caves Men. When she came back. She became Muslim. Now She is one the best propogator of Islam. She got true path. She knows the world better than us. She is qualified, widely travelled, work hard and a truth finder. She finds that they are most civilized and gentleman than Bush, Blair and their is no count for Modis, Advanis, Katiyars.
Why spread hatred dear...These are past things even if it is true.Mostly these are from works of literature.You know what is ficion.There are miles between ficion and reality.Agreed all religions handle women badly...especially Brahminism where there is toal unquestioned power is vested with the Brahmins
Why spread hatred dear...These are past things even if it is true.Mostly these are from works of literature.You know what is fiction.There are miles between fiction and reality.Agreed all religions handle women badly...especially Brahminism where there is toal unquestioned power is vested with the Brahmins
