Concept of slaves
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa
Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be
upon all of you)
One of
our brothers/sisters has asked this question:
As slam alykum.
Dear brother Burhan,
Lately several queries have come up regarding the Deen,
They are as follows;
4. Why does Islaam allow people to have sex with
their slaves? -Is this not a form of Adulatory?
(There
may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum
does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from
our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)
Answer:
Concept of slaves
In the name of Allah, We praise
Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness.
Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray,
none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person,
no grave, no prophet, no
imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone,
and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of
His Messengers.
May Allah bless you and
reward you for asking this question. It
is true that a lot of people push this subject ‘under the rug’ and do not
understand it or are sometimes ashamed of this concept. That is because, today’s society and behavior is
absolutely different from the conditions prevalent 1400 years ago at the time
of Revelation of the Quran. There is no place on earth where this
concept is practiced today,
thus to really understand the concept in its entirety, we must try to imagine the times of the
Revelation of the Glorious Quran.
Since time immemorial, slavery was an
accepted practice; thus it was not Islam
that started this practice, but rather
Islam was the first system to inculcate the freedom of slaves and take steps to
make them equal citizens of society.
Slavery was abolished in modern society only a couple of centuries ago, and was openly
practiced in almost all parts of the civilized world even until the early
1900s. But Islam made it a virtue to
free slaves, and
inculcate them into society as equal citizens,
almost 1400 years ago!
So, how did people (men and women) become
slaves?
There were several ways in
earlier times how a free person would become a slave.
The already existent
slaves and their offspring were also considered slaves.
People used to steal
children and then sell them as slaves in another place.
One tribe would attack
another tribe, kill
the men, and take the women and children
as slaves and then sell them as war-booty.
This practice was
prevalent all over the world at the times, thus we must remember that Islam
neither started it, nor encouraged
it. Islam, in fact closed almost all the doors on
how a free man becomes a slave, and in
reality opened all the doors to free these slaves and make them responsible
members in society. Islam was instrumental in eradicating slavery and made it a
virtue and a means of reward from Allah to free slaves and inculcate
them into society.
The Messenger of Allah
(saws) declared it a sin to kidnap any free man, woman or child and make them
slaves. After the wars, the Prophet (saws) used to exchange
the Prisoners of War if both the warring parties agreed to it. If not, the captives were set free by taking a
ransom for them. If the slaves or their
families could not afford the ransom, most times the Prophet (saws) showed
generosity and released them without any ransom. Only
if none of the above were possible, and the captives had no place to
return to, then these captives were made
slaves and all efforts were taken to inculcate them into the existing Islamic
Society.
In some instances, when the enemy was
still at war, there was always a fear
that if the Prisoners of War were released,
they would go back and join their armies and attack the muslims again.
During these times,
the Messenger of Allah (saws) allowed the prisoners to be taken
as slaves as was the prevalent system of the times. Rather than put them in jail, the slaves were
distributed to each household and they were responsible for the welfare of the
slaves. The Messenger of Allah (saws)
exhorted the believers to feed them what they ate themselves, and dress them in the clothes that
they themselves dressed.
Thus, there arose a issue with the women who were captured as Prisoners of
War, and were not exchanged, nor ransomed, nor had any place to return to. Most times the wars were with tribes, and whoever won
these wars, the losing tribes were
completely annihilated. Thus there was
no place to send the Prisoners of War back to, and it became imperative that these
people were inculcated within the society.
Thus there were two choices left with the slave girls:
Leave them alone in
society with no family and no protection.
Give them under the
guardianship and protection of an existing family.
Option-1. Leave them alone in society with no
family and no protection.
This would not have been a good option. There was obviously a fear that these women, who had absolutely
no family and tribe to protect or feed them,
would start immoral practices if left to fend for themselves. And because no one could determine their
lineage, no
honorable person at that time would marry them outright. And also it would not be right to just leave
these women, who
had absolutely no means, no family, and no protection in a foreign land.
Option-2.
Give them under the guardianship of an existing family.
The state would determine
which slave girl goes to which household.
Neither the people who received the slave girl, nor the slave girl had a choice. Whatever was allotted by the state was
received by them. This was considered
the best and novel system to eradicate slavery and accept the slaves as members
of society. We must not try to imagine
this system of distribution and acceptance in today’s society, but rather 1400 years at the time of
the Prophet (saws). The training and
discipline of the noble companions of the Prophet (saws), and the true Islamic society which was
created in light of the Holy Quran and the guidance
of the Messenger of Allah (saws) must be kept in view to get a full picture of
the condition of the times.
Q-1: What is a concubine?
The slave girl that was
allotted by the state to the respective household, thus became the consort of one member
of the household. Only this person was
allowed to have a sexual relationship with this slave girl. The difference between this person’s wife
and the slave girl was that his wife came into his house through the proper
marriage contract (Nikaah), and the slave girl was allotted by the
state.
Q-2: What is their status
in a man’s life, esp a
married person’s life?
The status was like his
wife. Only the person who was allotted
the slave girl was allowed to have a sexual relationship with her. If the slave girl was allotted to the father, then the brothers
or the sons had absolutely no right towards this girl. The other difference was that the Islamic
law of equality of time and sustenance did not apply between the wives and the
slave girl.
Q-3: What is the status of
the offsprings of this relationship-- to the man, in
their lives, wealth and will etc?
The children were exactly
like the other children from the person’s legally wedded wife. They were to be given exactly the same
rights as his other children. The
children of the slave girl would inherit the property exactly as the other
children. There was absolutely no
difference amongst the children. And
once any slave girl bore a child, she could not be sold to anybody else
and thus became a permanent member of the household.
Q-4: Does she have to be a
muslima, or the religion in this relationship is not
of concern?
No, this slave girl did not have to be a muslima. In fact, all the wars fought
were between the muslims and the non-believers, thus most of these slave girls were non-muslims. But
through this system of allocation, this woman was encompassed into
Islamic society, and because of the
behavior and character of the muslims of the
times, the woman, more often than not, would accept Islam.
Q-5: How is this any
different from the modern days concept of
mistress/prostitution/adultery?
There is a huge difference
between the slave girls of those times and the system of prostitution which is so prevalent as a disease in today’s society.
The slave girl was a social
issue of the times,
which if not solved by Islam would give rise to adultery and
prostitution.
In prostitution, the woman sells
here services for a fee to anyone who is willing to pay! The slave girl was taken into a household as
a full member.
In prostitution, the woman has
sexual relationships with many men! The
slave girl would have sexual relations only with the person she was given to; very similar to the
husband-wife relationship, the only
difference being that the wife came into the house through a marriage
contract, and the slave girl was
allotted to the person by the state.
Prostitution is a result of illegal lust, and is a huge sin in the eyes of Allah. The allocation of slave girls was a issue of the times to envelope the woman taken as slaves
in a war into the Islamic society.
Prostitution and adultery
do not have any responsibility attached to it!
The man-woman have a one-off relationship and
depart. The slave girls were a
responsibility of the person,
who spent on them, gave them
a place to live, fed them, clothed them,
and raised their children as his children.
The children from adultery
and prostitution are regarded as born out of wedlock and grow up without the
name and without the shadow of a father.
The children of the slave girls were known as the children of the person, grew up with his
other children, and had exactly the same
rights and inheritance as the other offspring.
The system of slave girls
was accepted and respected by the Islamic society of the times. The slave girl was treated like his wife, and the children
from these slave girls were treated like their children by society.
No religion, no state, no moral society accepts and respects the
institutions of prostitution and adultery.
This is a disease of society and every moral society has tried to
eradicate this disease with little success.
Again, I reiterate that this system of slaves
was not started by Islam, but was
prevalent in the society in those times.
Islam tried to encompass the slaves into Islamic society and gave them
the respect and honor of being equal members and citizens of society. Almost all the doors and ways of creating
new slaves were closed,
and several options were created to free these slaves and entwine
them into the Islamic society. It was
considered a virtue in Islam to free slaves and a means of great reward from
Allah Subhanah.
Islam created a society whereby the compensation for repentance for many
sins like murder,
breaking of promises,
missing of fasts, etc. was the freeing of slaves.
In this way,
Islam created an environment whereby slaves were made free and
allowed to inculcate themselves into the normal Islamic society. We must be careful not to look into this
‘slave-girls’ issue in isolation, but rather look at the whole picture
of the Islamic society at the time of the Messenger of Allah (saws). The training, the discipline, the character, and the morals of the noble companions was a
direct result of their association and teachings and guidance of the Prophet
(saws) himself. The values and degree
of ‘Taqwa’ (God consciousness) and the love for the
promised
Q-6: But then time and
time again I come to read the fact that Rasool Allah
(saws) used to have one or two concubines too, aside from his 13 wives?
The Messenger of Allah (saws)
had 11 wives in total during his lifetime, and the most wives he had at any one
time were nine. Some of the allotted
captives of war and slave-girls, became his noble wives and received
the title and honor of being called the ‘mother of the believers’ by Allah
Himself in the Holy Quran. Amongst them was Hadrat
Saffiyyah, who was a Jew. She was allotted to the Prophet (saws) as a
slave girl, converted
to Islam and was married to the Messenger of Allah (saws). Another of his wives who came as a slave and
was allotted to the Prophet (saws) was Hadrat Jawarriyah (r.a.)
from the tribe of Banu Haris. She too converted to Islam and was married
to the Messenger of Allah (saws). He
also had a couple of slaves girls whom he did not marry, like Hadrat
Maria Kibtia and Hadrat Rehaana, for reasons
best known to Allah and His Messenger (saws).
But the scholars are unanimous in their opinion that the Messenger of
Allah (saws) treated them with love and respect exactly like his other
wives. And even after the death of the
Prophet (saws), these
slave girls of the Prophet (saws) did not marry anybody else like his
wives, and they were respected by the muslims in the same honor as the other wives of the Prophet
(saws).
And Allah Alone Knows Best
and He is the Only Source of Strength.
Whatever written of Truth
and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of
error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best
and He is the Only Source of Strength.
Your
Brother in Islam,
Burhan
Wister