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Slaves were owned in all Islamic societies, both sedentary and
nomadic, ranging from Arabia in the centre to North Africa in the west
and to what isnow Pakistan and Indonesia in the east. Some Islamic
states, such as the Ottoman Empire, the Crimean Khanate, and the
Sokoto caliphate [Nigeria], must be termed slave societies because
slaves there were very important numerically as well as a focus of the
polities' energies.
Encyclopaedia Britannica - Slavery
Many societies throughout history have practised slavery , and Muslim
societies were no exception.
It's thought that as many people were enslaved in the Eastern slave
trade as in the Atlantic slave trade.
It's ironic that when the Atlantic slave trade was abolished the
Eastern trade expanded, suggesting that for some Africans the
abolition of the Atlantic trade didn't lead to freedom, but merely
changed their slave destination.
It's misleading to use phrases such as 'Islamic slavery' and 'Muslim
slave trade', even though slavery existed in many Muslim cultures at
varioustimes, since the Atlantic slave trade is not called the
Christian slave trade, even though most of those responsible for it
were Christians.
Slavery before Islam
Slavery was common in pre-Islamic times and accepted by many
ancientlegal systems and it continued under Islam.
Although Islam is much credited for moderating the age-old institution
of slavery, which was also accepted and endorsed bythe other
monotheistic religions, Christianity and Judaism, and was a
well-established custom of the pre-Islamic world, it has never
preached the abolition of slavery as a doctrine.
Forough Jahanbaksh, Islam, Democracy and Religious Modernism in Iran,
1953-2000, 2001
The condition of slaves, like that of women, may well have improved
with the coming of Islam, but the institution was not abolished, any
more than it was under Christianity at this period.
Malise Ruthven, Islam in the World, 2000
How Islam moderated slavery
Islam's approach to slavery added the idea that freedom was the
natural state of affairs for human beings and in line with this it
limited the opportunities to enslave people, commended the freeing of
slaves and regulated the way slaves were treated:
*. Islam greatly limited those who could be enslaved and under what
circumstances (although these restrictions were often evaded)
*. Islam treated slaves as human beings as well asproperty
*. Islam banned the mistreatment of slaves -indeed the tradition
repeatedly stresses the importance of treating slaves with kindness
and compassion
*. Islam allowed slaves to achieve their freedom and made freeing
slavesa virtuous act
*. Islam barred Muslims from enslaving other Muslims
But the essential nature ofslavery remained the same under Islam, as
elsewhere. It involved serious breaches of human rights and however
well they were treated, the slaves still had restricted freedom; and,
when the law was not obeyed, their lives could be very unpleasant.
The paradox
A poignant paradox of Islamic slavery is that the humanity of the
various rules and customs that ledto the freeing of slaves created a
demand for newslaves that could only be supplied by war, forcing
people into slavery or trading slaves.
Muslim slavery continued for centuries
The legality of slavery in Islam, together with the example of the
Prophet Muhammad , who himself bought, sold, captured, and owned
slaves, may explain why slavery persisted until the 19th century in
many places (and later still in some countries). The impetus for the
abolition of slavery came largely from colonial powers, although some
Muslim thinkers argued strongly for abolition.
Slaves came from many places
Unlike the Atlantic slave traders, Muslims enslaved people from many
cultures as well as Africa. Other sources included the Balkans,
Central Asia and Mediterranean Europe.
Slaves could be assimilated into Muslim society
Muhammad's teaching that slaves were to be regarded as human beings
with dignity and rights and not just as property, and that
freeingslaves was a virtuous thing to do, may have helped to create a
culture in which slaves became much more assimilated into the
community than they were in the West.
Muslim slaves could achieve status
Slaves in the Islamic world were not always at the bottom of the
social hierarchy. Slaves in Muslim societies had a greater range of
work, and took on a wider range of responsibilities, than those
enslaved in the Atlantic trade.
Some slaves earned respectable incomes and achieved considerable
power, although even such elite slaves still remained in the power of
their owners.
'' Our Lord ! grant us good in this world and good in the hereafter and save us from the torment of the Fire '' [Ameen]
-
{in Arab} :->
Rabbanaa aatinaa fid-dunyaa hasanatan wafil aakhirati hasanatan waqinaa 'athaaban-naar/-
(Surah Al-Baqarah ,verse 201)
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