Slavery and Islam

Slavery And Islam

Islamic views on slavery first developed out of the slavery practices of pre-Islamic Arabia.

One of the five pillars of Islam, zakat, is meant to encourage Muslims to donate money to free slaves and bonded labourers in countries where slaves and bonded labourers may have existed, in the hope that over time there will be no slaves left in that country. The amount of zakat to be paid on capital assets (e.g. money) is 2.5% (1/40) per year for people who are not poor.

Quran, Surat At-Tawbah 9:60 specifies that Zakat is to be used for freeing slaves and bonded labourers

"Zakat expenditures are only for the poor and for the needy and for those employed to collect (Zakat) and for bringing hearts together and for freeing captives (or slaves) and for those in debt (or bonded labour) and for the cause of Allah and for the (stranded) traveller - an obligation (imposed) by Allah . And Allah is Knowing and Wise."

Muhammad would send his companions like Abu Bakr and Uthman ibn Affan to buy slaves to manumit them. Many early converts to Islam were the poor and former slaves like Bilal ibn Rabah al-Habashi.

The prophet Muhammad himself said one of the best deeds is to free a slave. In total his household and friends freed 39,237 slaves. Slaves are able to own their own property and purchase or acquire their freedom in various ways.

The slavery accepted by sharia law limited the source of slaves to the children of two slave parents and war prisoners. Many such sharia law principles are devised through Ijtihad where there is no such ruling in the Quran or the Hadiths of Islamic prophet Muhammad regarding a similar case. Therefore the judge continued to use the same ruling as was given in that area during pre-Islamic times, if the population felt comfortable with it. As explained in the Muwatta by Malik ibn Anas. This made it easier for the different communities to integrate into the Islamic State and assisted in the quick expansion of the Islamic State. Many of the laws regarding slavery existed in the Byzantine empire before the people there became Muslims. Conditions were then imposed to improve the treatment of slaves and Zakat was imposed on the Muslims so that they would buy the slaves and free them.

The Qur'an provides for emancipation of a slave as a means (or in one case, a requirement of) demonstrating remorse for the commission of certain sins. During Ramadan, if one intentionally does not fast and its not for health reasons or they are travelling, and they could afford it, then for each fast, they have to free a slave or a bonded labourer, and if that is not possible then they have to feed and/or clothe 60 people in need.

During the wars between different states/tribes in various parts of the world, prisoners/captives were either killed or enslaved. The Islamic prophet Muhammad and many of his companions reformed the existing system of slavery by placing captives / POWs in the private custody of Muslim soldiers (rather than public/state custody as is prevalent in the modern world) for there were no official prisons available in the newly created Muslim state in Medina headed by Muhammad.

In Islamic law the topic of slavery is covered at great length. The Qur'an (the holy book) and the hadith (the sayings of Muhammad) see slavery as an exceptional condition that can be entered into under certain limited circumstances. Only children of slaves or non-Muslim prisoners of war could become slaves, never a freeborn Muslim. They also consider manumission of a slave to be one of many meritorious deeds available for the expiation of sins. According to Sharia, slaves are considered human beings and possessed some rights on the basis of their humanity. In addition, a Muslim slave is equal to a Muslim freeman in religious issues and superior to the free non-Muslim.

In practice, slaves played various social and economic roles from Emir to worker. Slaves were widely employed in irrigation, mining, pastoralism and the army. Some rulers even relied on military and administrative slaves to such a degree that they seized power. However, people did not always treat with slaves in accordance with Islamic law. In some cases the situation was so harsh it led to uprisings such as the Zanj Rebellion. However, this was an exception rather than the norm, as the vast majority of labour in the medieval Islamic world consisted of free, paid labour. For a variety of reasons, internal growth of the slave population was not enough to fulfill the demand in Muslim society. This resulted in massive importation, which involved enormous suffering and loss of life from the capture and transportation of slaves from non-Muslim lands. In theory, slavery in Islamic law does not have a racial or color component, although this has not always been the case in practice.

The Arab slave trade was most active in West Asia, North Africa and East Africa. By the end of the 19th century, such activity had reached a low ebb. In the early 20th century (post World War I) slavery was gradually outlawed and suppressed in Muslim lands, largely due to pressure exerted by Western nations such as Britain and France. However, slavery claiming the sanction of Islam is documented presently in the African republics of Chad, Mauritania, Niger, Mali and Sudan.