Slavery existed for thousands of years
before Islam. When Islam came the shari’ah addressed the reality of slavery
that was prevalent at the time by bringing new legislation on the treatment of
slaves that aimed at raising their status and eventually their freedom.
Although nowadays there are no shari’ah
circumstances where slavery can return, the issue of Islam and slavery is the
subject of much misunderstanding and propaganda by the enemies of Islam. Some
even go as far as believing a future Khilafah would re-introduce slavery to the
world.
The following discussion will address
the issue of Islam and slavery in detail from the shari’ah evidences and refute
the idea that a future Khilafah would re-introduce slavery.
Solving the issue of slaves
Islam treated slaves in a way that
eased the position of slavery imposed upon them. The fuqaha (scholars) laid
down many rules detailing the treatment of slaves that ultimately led to them
being set free either compulsorily or voluntarily. These rules are summarised
in the following issues:
Firstly, Islam found people owning
slaves so it treated the problem of slaves by addressing the owners. It dealt
with slavery in such a way that gave rights to the slave whilst also
maintaining their humanity. The slave is the same as a free person in relation
to the natural attributes man is endowed with.
Allah (swt) in the Noble Qur’an and the
Messenger of Allah (SAW) in the honoured hadith exhorted the treating of slaves
with kindness.
Allah (swt) says:
“Worship Allah; join nothing with Him. Be good to
your parents, to relatives, to orphans, to the needy, to neighbours near and
far, to travellers in need and those whom your right hands possess. Allah does
not like arrogant, boastful people.” [Surah an-Nisa: 36]
The meaning of “those whom your right hands possess”
is your slaves.
The Messenger of Allah (saw) said: “Fear Allah in regards of those whom your
right hands possess. They are your brothers whom Allah placed under your hands
(authority). Feed them with what you eat, clothe them with what you wear and do
not impose duties upon them which will overcome them. If you so impose duties,
then assist them.” [Muslim]
Muslim narrated on the authority of Abu
Hurayra that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: “One of you should not say: My slave (abd) and my slave-girl (amati). All
of you are the slaves of Allah and all of your women are the slave-girls of
Allah. Rather let him say: My (ghulam) boy and my (jariyah) girl and my (fata)
young boy and my (fatati) young girl.”
The Shar’a raised the rank of the slave
and made his blood protected just like the free person, where the free person
is killed for the deliberate murder of a slave.
Allah (swt) says:
“You who believe, retaliation is prescribed for you
in cases of murder: the free man for the free man, the slave for the slave, the
female for the female.” [Surah al-Bakarah: 178]
Retaliation is reciprocity and
punishing the sinner, so retaliation is recompense for the sin, and it is used
for doing upon the doer similar to what he did.
The meaning of “retaliation is prescribed for you in cases
of murder” is that it is obliged on you as a recompense for the sin
of murdering to kill the killer. This is general (‘aam) covering the
male and female, free person and slave. This is supported by what Ibn Majah
narrated on the authority of Ibn Abbas that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: “Muslims are equal in their blood.”
This is also general.
The free person and slave are equal in
that the blood of each of them is protected and it is haram to kill them. So
the killer is killed whoever he is.
Therefore, Islam made the life of the
slave equal to the life of the free person, and his blood is protected like the
blood of a free person.
The Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: “Whoever kills his slave, we will kill him.”
(narrated by Ahmad and Abu Dawud on the authority of Sumra bin Jundub)
Islam also gave the slave the right to
marry, divorce, study and to be a witness upon others whether a free person or
slave.
As for the right given by Islam to the
owner of a slave-girl to enjoy sexual relations with her, this raises the
status of the slave and results in her freedom. This is because the enjoyment of
the owner with his slave-girl is like the enjoyment of the husband with his
wife, lifting the status of the slave girl to the status of the free wife and
gives her a status before her master. In addition, if the slave-girl falls
pregnant and bears a child she is freed compulsorily after the death of her
master.
Secondly, Islam urged the freeing of
slaves. It made the freeing of the slave as helping the human being to be
grateful for the splendid favours of Allah and assists him to attempt the steep
path.
Allah (swt) says:
“Yet he has not attempted (iqtiham) the steep path
(‘aqabah). What will explain to you what the steep path (‘aqabah) is? It is
freeing the neck.” [Surah al-Balad: 11-13]
Al-iqtiham
is the entry and cross over with severity and difficulty and ‘aqabah is
difficulty. It made the righteous deed as ‘aqabah and made its performance as Al-iqtiham
due to what is therein of difficulty and the struggling with one’s soul. “Freeing the neck” is liberating
it from slavery so Allah urged the freeing of slaves in this ayah. Similarly
the Messenger (saw) urged the freeing of slaves.
He (saw) said: “Whichever man frees a Muslim man, Allah
ta’ala will liberate for each of his organ an organ from the Fire”
(narrated by Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
This demonstrates that Islam urged the
freeing of slaves and gave it a great reward.
Thirdly, Islam legislated practical
rules obliging the freeing of slaves. Any slave owned by one of his mahram
(unmarriageable) relatives is automatically free whether the owner consents or
not. Therefore anyone who owns a relative by purchase or inheritance, his
relative is freed from him by force once he owned him without need for his
freeing.
Abu Dawud narrated from Samurah that
the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: “If
anyone gets possession of a relative who is within the prohibited degrees
(mahram), that person becomes free.”
It also made punishing the slave by
burning, cutting or damaging an organ, or hitting him violently as obliging his
freedom. Therefore, if his owner does not free him, the ruler frees him by
force from his owner.
He (saw) said: “Whoever slaps his slave or strikes him, his
atonement (kaffara) is to free him.” (Narrated by Muslim on the
authority of Ibn Umar)
The meaning of the hit is the (mubrih)
violent strike for there are ahadith that permit the owner to chastise his
slave for disciplining.
Islam made the freeing of the slave as
a compulsory atonement (kaffara) for many sins. So whoever kills a
believer accidentally, his atonement is freeing a believing slave.
Allah (swt) says:
“Never should a believer kill another believer,
except by mistake. If anyone kills a believer by mistake he must free one
Muslim slave and pay blood money (diyya) to the victim’s relatives, unless they
charitably forgo it; if the victim belonged to a people at war with you but is
a believer, then the compensation is only to free a believing slave; if he
belonged to a people with whom you have a treaty, then blood money should be
handed over to his relatives, and a believing slave set free.”
[Surah an-Nisa: 92]
Whoever broke his oath, then one of
those things that atones for his mistake is freeing a slave.
Allah (swt) says:
“Allah does not take you [to task] for what is
thoughtless in your oaths, only for your binding oaths: the atonement for
breaking an oath is to feed ten poor people with food equivalent to what you
would normally give your own families or to clothe them or to set free a
slave.” [Surah al-Mai’dah: 89]
Whoever says to his wife ‘you are to me
like my mother’s back’ and then returns to her, his atonement is freeing a
slave.
Allah (swt) says:
“Those of you who say such a thing to their wives
(i.e. ‘you are to me like my mother’s back’), then go back on what they have
said, must free a slave before the couple may touch one another again.”
[Surah al-Mujadilah: 3]
Whoever invalidates the fast of Ramadan
by sexual intercourse, his atonement is freeing a slave.
Narrated by Abu Hurayra: While we were sitting with the Prophet (saw) a man came and said: “O Allah's Messenger! I have been ruined.” Allah’s Messenger asked what the matter with him was. He replied: “I had sexual intercourse with my wife while I was fasting.” Allah’s Messenger asked him: “Can you afford to free a slave?” He replied in the negative. Allah’s Messenger asked him: “Can you fast for two successive months?” He replied in the negative. The Prophet asked him: “Can you afford to feed sixty poor persons?” He replied in the negative. The Prophet kept silent and while we were in that state, a big basket full of dates was brought to the Prophet. He asked: “Where is the questioner?” He replied: “I (am here).” The Prophet said (to him): “Take this (basket of dates) and give it in charity.” The man said: “Should I give it to a person poorer than I? By Allah; there is no family between its (i.e. Medina’s) two mountains who are poorer than I.” The Prophet smiled till his pre-molar teeth became visible and then said: “Feed your family with it.” [Bukhari]
Narrated by Abu Hurayra: While we were sitting with the Prophet (saw) a man came and said: “O Allah's Messenger! I have been ruined.” Allah’s Messenger asked what the matter with him was. He replied: “I had sexual intercourse with my wife while I was fasting.” Allah’s Messenger asked him: “Can you afford to free a slave?” He replied in the negative. Allah’s Messenger asked him: “Can you fast for two successive months?” He replied in the negative. The Prophet asked him: “Can you afford to feed sixty poor persons?” He replied in the negative. The Prophet kept silent and while we were in that state, a big basket full of dates was brought to the Prophet. He asked: “Where is the questioner?” He replied: “I (am here).” The Prophet said (to him): “Take this (basket of dates) and give it in charity.” The man said: “Should I give it to a person poorer than I? By Allah; there is no family between its (i.e. Medina’s) two mountains who are poorer than I.” The Prophet smiled till his pre-molar teeth became visible and then said: “Feed your family with it.” [Bukhari]
The Prophet (saw) commanded first with
freeing the slave, and he did not move to anything else except after the
inability of doing so was clear to him. All these rules of atonements oblige
the atoner to free the slave.
Islam also gave the slave a method of
freeing himself by entering into a manumission contract (mukatab) with his
owner. This contract is where the slave agrees a value of money with his owner
in exchange for his freedom in the future. Islam encouraged this contract.
Allah (swt) says:
“If any of your slaves wish to pay for their
freedom, make a contract with them accordingly, if you know they have good in
them and give them some of the wealth Allah has given you.”
[Surah an-Noor: 33]
If the master contracts his slave by
saying to him: “If you give me so much, in such and such time, then you are
free” it is obligatory upon the master to enable his slave to attain the
money which he contracted upon him. It is obligatory upon the master to free
the slave if he brings the money, and it is not correct for him to withdraw from
this manumission contract.
The fuqaha recognised the manumission
contract as the immediate freeing of the slave, and the future freeing of his
neck. Once the contract is validated then the slave goes out of the hands of
his master and whenever the slave pays the amount due to his master he goes out
of his ownership as well.
All of these rules are for freeing
slaves. These rules are implemented by individuals motivated through their
taqwa to abide by them. They are also implemented forcefully by the Islamic
State if the individual’s taqwa fails to motivate him to abide by these rules.
All of these rules generate thinking and action by the owners to free slaves.
They also generate thinking and action among the slaves themselves so they can
work to free themselves from their slavery. This shows how the Islamic society
aims to abolish slavery through the sharia rules and application of the system.
Fourthly, Islam was not only satisfied
with encouraging the freeing of slaves and legislating rules to compel their
freeing. Rather Islam made the freeing of slaves one of the eight categories
the Bait ul-Mal (state treasury) spends Zakat money on.
Allah (swt) says:
“Alms are meant only for the poor, the needy, those
who administer them, those whose hearts need winning over, and for (riqab) and
helping those in debt, for Allah’s cause, and for travellers in need. This is
ordained by Allah; Allah is all knowing and wise.”
[Surah at-Tawba: 60]
His (swt) statement: “and for (riqab)” means freeing
slaves. Islam did not specify a specific amount of money for this category. If
required the State can assign some of the Zakat for freeing slaves or it can
assign the entire amount of Zakat for freeing slaves. This is because the Zakat
is not obliged to be spent on all the eight categories, but rather on those
categories the Khaleefah of the Muslims views as a priority.
Solving the issue of Slavery
In the old systems before Islam the
categories of slavery practiced in the world were many. A bankrupt debtor could
be enslaved. So when a debtor became poor and bankrupt, his creditor could
enslave him. Slavery was also used as a punishment for some crimes and
offences. A free person could accept slavery upon himself, so he sells himself
to another upon condition that he frees him after a period of time they agreed
upon. The strong tribes allowed themselves to enslave the individuals of the
weak tribes. Wars and battles would result in the enslaving of captives and
allow the enslaving of all the people of a country if they were conquered. Some
of them would limit slavery to those they took as captives in the war of men,
women and children. Whoever was taken as a captive in a legal war and was
enslaved therein he was considered a slave and was acknowledged as being a
slave.
When Islam came it determined the
situations where slavery can occur. It clarified that in relation to the
bankrupt debtor the creditor should grant him time till he can repay.
Allah (swt) says:
“If the debtor is in difficulty, then delay things
until matters become easier for him.” [Surah al-Bakarah: 280]
Islam also clarified in detail the
punishments for sins particularly the punishment for stealing whose punishment
in the old systems used to be slavery.
Allah (swt) says:
“And they answered, ‘The penalty will be [the
enslavement of] the person in whose bag the cup is found: this is how we punish
wrongdoers.’” [Surah Yousuf: 75]
So Islam clarified the punishment for stealing
as cutting the hand.
Allah (swt) says:
“Cut off the hands of thieves, whether they are man
or women, as punishment for what they have done.”
[Surah al-Mai’dah: 38]
It made the contract between the slave
and owner upon freedom, not slavery. It prohibited the enslaving of free people
in a decisive manner.
Narrated Abu Hurayra, The Prophet (saw)
said: “Allah says: ‘I will be
against three persons on the Day of Resurrection; One who makes a covenant in
My Name, but he proves treacherous. One who sells a free person (as a slave)
and eats the price. And One who employs a labourer and gets the full work done
by him but does not pay him his wages.’” [Bukhari]
So Allah (swt) will dispute with the
seller of the free person.
As for the situation of war, Islam
prevented the enslaving of captives absolutely. In the second year of Hijrah,
the rule of captives was clarified. Either they are favoured by releasing them
free without any return, or they are ransomed by money or captives like them of
Muslims or dhimmi.
Allah (swt) says:
“When you meet the disbelievers in battle, strike
them in the neck, and once they are defeated, bind any captives firmly – later
you can release them by grace or by ransom – until the toils of war have
ended.” [Surah Muhammad: 4]
The ayah is explicit in this meaning -
Release by grace or ransom, and it absolutely does not bear any other meaning.
The Arabic language requires restricting the rule of the captives in one of
these two matters—release or ransom. This is because إِمَّا “imma” is for giving
a choice between two matters and for restriction in the two things. Here it
gave a choice between release or ransom, and restricting the rule to these two
alone. When it came to expressing that with إِمَّا “imma” it indicates the restriction of
that mentioned after it: “release them by grace or by ransom.”
A question may arise concerning the
subject of captives, because some fuqaha deduced that the Khaleefah can enslave
captives if he so wishes. This ayah was revealed after the Battle of Badr in
the second year after Hijrah at the beginning of the war between the Messenger
(saw) and the disbelievers of Quraysh. However, the Messenger (saw) enslaved in
the Battle of Hunayn which came after the Battle of Badr. The Messenger’s (saw)
action is considered legislation as it is also considered an explanation of the
verses of Allah. So how could enslaving of captives be prevented by this ayah
though the Messenger enslaved after its revelation in Hunayn?
The answer is that the action of the
Messenger (saw) and his speech in relation to the Qur’anic ayaat is either
detailing of a mujmal (ambivalent), restricting of a mutlaq
(absolute) or specifying of an ‘aam (general). The action of the
Messenger (saw) and his speech cannot be an abrogation of the Qur’an. The ayah
of captives is neither mujmal such that it needs detailing nor is its
words ‘aam so as to be specified nor mutlaq so as to be
restricted. So if it was proved that the Messenger (saw) enslaved after its
revelation, his action would abrogate it and this is not permitted. In
addition, the Messenger’s (saw) enslaving of captives is individually narrated
news (khabr ahad) which contradicts the ayah: “later you can release them by grace or by
ransom.” When the khabr ahad contradicts the definite ayaat and
ahadith the khabr ahad is rejected by its meaning.
Accordingly, there is no regard to what
is narrated that the Messenger (saw) enslaved after the revelation of the ayah
of captives. However, what actually happened in the battle of Hunayn was that
women and children accompanied the fighters of the mushrikeen to increase their
numbers and incite their men to fight. So when they were routed in the battlefield
the women and children became war booty (sabaya) and the Messenger (saw)
divided them between the Muslim fighters. When he (saw) was requested to
reconsider this matter he asked the Muslims to grant their right in this war
booty (sabaya) voluntarily and returned this sabi to their people. This
indicated the permissibility of enslaving women and children that accompany the
men in the battlefield to increase their numbers and for encouraging them to
fight.
Despite this, the Messenger (saw) did
not enslave at Khaybar. When he (saw) invaded Khaybar and overpowered its
residents, he left them as free persons and left the land under their hands to
farm it over half of its produce.
Abu Ubaidah said about booty (sabi): ‘The Imam is given a choice in them as long
as they have not been divided. Once they are divided there is no way over them
except by gift and free will of those for whom they belonged to, like the
action of the Messenger of Allah (saw) with the people of Hunayn. None of the
sabi was returned by anyone of them except by gift and free will because he had
divided them. He did not do this with the people of Khaybar but rather left
them as free persons nor were they gifted by anyone for division had not
occurred over them.’
As for other than this sabiyy, such as
the fighters when they are taken as captives, the Messenger (saw) never
enslaved any of their men. It is not proved that he enslaved a captive of the
fighting men from the Arabs, Jews or Christians. The word aseer when used
unrestricted in the language indicates the male fighter. As for the woman and
child, the word used for them in the language is sabiyy not asra. Accordingly,
it is clear that Islam prevented enslaving captives of the male fighters, and
gave the Khaleefah a choice in the sabiyy between enslaving and liberation and
there is no ransom in them.
This is what the Messenger (saw) did in
the sabiyy of Hunayn - he enslaved them and then freed them, and with the
sabiyy of Khaybar, he (SAW) left them free without enslaving them. This is only
if women and children accompany the army in war. If, however, they stay at home
there is nothing upon them, neither captivity nor sabiyy. The actions of the
Khaleefah in the question of enslaving the sabiyy proceeds according to what
the war policy requires in dealing with the enemy. Its objective is not
enslaving rather it is one of the war transactions whose matter is left to the
Khaleefah who does what he sees fit and what the position in relation to the
enemy requires.
Thus it is clear that Islam solved the
problem of slavery. It prevented all the situations in which enslaving occurs,
and left for the Khaleefah the choice in the situation of sabiyy according to
the position in relation to the enemy.
In modern warfare, women and children
no longer accompany the army to increase its numbers and encourage its men to
fight, so there does not remain even one situation in which enslaving occurs.
Therefore, Islam has abolished slavery and there are no situations where
slavery would return in a future Khilafah.
Or,
See this Link:
No comments:
Post a Comment