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:

I am a married man past 8 years with 3 beautiful dauhgters n a religious n loyal wife.

My financial conditions are excellent I would like to know in these conditions can I associate a BANDHI with me.

I have a girlfriend who is ready to be as a BANDHI with me.

My wife has a hint of my affair and she strongly opposes this.

Please reply asap with the best of your knowledge advising in stages as what would be GOOD, BETTER , BEST.

Your Brother

Fi Amanillah. 

(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:

Is it legal to take slave girl?

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.

Your Questions: My financial conditions are excellent I would like to know in these conditions can I associate a BANDHI with me.

Dear and Beloved Brother in Islam, a ‘bandhi’ or ‘slave-girl’ is not someone a person chooses for himself from amongst the free-women of the world; but rather it is only permitted in Islam in the conditions when the righteous Islamic State takes captives in a Jihad, and after the exchange or ransom of the prisoners of war, some captives are left with the State which they appoint to the guardianship of the believers.  Instead of putting the captives or prisoners of war to rot in jails for the rest of their lives, Islam encouraged them to become members of a righteous society and appointed these captives to the guardianship of the believers.  This is the only way slaves or slave-girls enter into a believing society. 

‘Slavery’ was not something started by Islam, but it was prevalent in the political and social system of the world at the time of the Revelation of the Quran.  Islam guided mankind to a system where slavery was discouraged, encouraged the believers to free the slaves and counted freeing a slave as a great virtue, and other than the left-over captives of war, absolutely abolished and declared forbidden all the other ways of bringing new slaves into the society.  Neither are the conditions of a righteous and proper Islamic State in place today, nor is there any way for a free-person to become a slave in today’s society!

Thus it is not upto the individual to choose to associate any woman as a ‘baandhi’ or slave-girl, nor is upto the free-woman to choose to become a slave-girl!

Your Question: I have a girlfriend who is ready to be as a BANDHI with me.

My wife has a hint of my affair and she strongly opposes this.

Please reply asap with the best of your knowledge advising in stages as what would be GOOD, BETTER , BEST.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verse 5: This day are (all) things good and pure made lawful unto you.  The food of the People of the Book is lawful unto you and yours is lawful unto them.  (Lawful unto you in marriage) are (not only) chaste women who are believers but chaste women among the People of the Book revealed before your time when ye give them their due dowers and desire chastity not lewdness nor secret intrigues.  If anyone rejects faith fruitless is his work and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost (all spiritual good).

It is absolutely impermissible and ‘haraam’ in Islam for a believer to have a ‘relationship’ with any non-mehram woman out of marriage.  Thus there are only two legal and permissible options for the believer who sincerely fears Allah and the Last Day in such a condition:

Leave the girlfriend alone, and have absolutely no ‘relationship’ with her in any way.

Honor the woman and marry her as your second wife, and give her her due rights in full.

Other than the above two options, there is absolutely no other option for a believer who sincerely fears Allah Subhanah and The Day of Accounting.

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