1a] Slavery in Islam

1a]
Muslim slavery was not just economic
Unlike the Western slave trade, slavery in Islam was not wholly
motivatedby economics.
Although some Muslim slaves were used as productive labour it was not
generally on the samemass scale as in the West but in smaller
agricultural enterprises, workshops, building, mining and transport.
Slaves were also taken formilitary service, some serving in elite
corps essential to the ruler's control of the state, while others
joined the equivalent of the civil service.
Another category of slavery was sexual slaveryin which young women
were made concubines, either on a small scale or in large harems of
the powerful. Some of these women were able to achieve wealth and
power.
These harems might be guarded by eunuchs, men who had been enslaved
and castrated.
Where did the slaves come from?
Muslim traders took their slaves from three main areas:
*. Non-Muslim Africa, in particular the Horn
*. Central and Eastern Europe
*. Central Asia
The legality of slavery today
While Islamic law does allow slavery under certain conditions, it's
almost inconceivable that those conditions could ever occur in today's
world, and so slavery is effectively illegal in modern Islam. Muslim
countries also use secular law to prohibit slavery.
News stories do continue to report occasional instances of slavery in
a few Muslim countries, but these are usually denied by the
authorities concerned.:->