Status of the slave in Islam

1. Why is there slavery in Islam?

• Slavery does not belong to Islam, it is not Islam that brought slavery.

• But the religion that deals with slavery is Islam.

• There is a misconception that Islam sees slavery as legitimate because it deals with the problem of slavery.

• Slavery in Islam is formed by the force of the enemy (pre-existence of slavery, war and the enemy's constant taking of slaves). Slaves are not taken for booty because the heart desires. (Anfal 67-68)

• There is no verse to buy a slave. On the contrary, there is a verse of release. (Muhammad 4)

• What is essential in Islam is freedom, not bondage. (Ali Imran 79, Mohammed 4, Zariyat 56)

2. Why didn't Islam abolish slavery?

• Islam could not unilaterally abolish slavery because it was widespread almost worldwide. (If the enemy takes a prisoner, you will have to take a prisoner so that you can always barter and if he is released with money, the state and people will go bankrupt after a while. Because if the slave is valuable, money is demanded a lot.

• Islam could not abolish slavery at once because if it had given a single decree for the freedom of the slaves, either most of them would perish from poverty, or this great unemployed and starving majority, oppressed by deprivation, would attack everywhere, shed blood, cause conflict and disrupt the social order.

• Slavery was also seen as an alternative to death to prevent the death of prisoners of war.

3. If Islam could not abolish slavery, then what did it do?

• He dealt with slavery.

• He declared that slaves are human and equal to other people (as Servants).

(Nahl 71, Nisa 25, Farewell sermon)

• Established slave rights, improved their situation. (Human 8, Nur 32, Nisa 36, ​​Nur 58, Anfal 6-68)

• He spread over time and liberated the slaves with verse and worship. (Muhammad 4, Maide 89, Struggle 3, Nisa 92, Beled 12-13, Repentance 60, Baccarat 177). Freeing a slave is an act of worship in Islam.

• Although Islam could not abolish slavery, it reformed and healed it in a way that led to freedom.

4. How do we understand that slaves and freedmen are equal as slaves and human beings in Islam?

• The expression “You are from each other” when describing the marriage with the concubine (Nisa 25)

• Allah has made some of you superior to others in the field of sustenance. Why don't the superiors share their sustenance with the poor under their command so that everyone can attain an equal level of subsistence? (Nahl 71)

• Even if an Abyssinian slave is appointed as your commander, listen to him.

• Despite all the reactions, he appointed people with a slave background such as Zayd bin Harise and Usama as commanders.

• Mohammed equates us with slaves. How do we enter this religion? (The polytheists)

• Arab has no superiority over non-Arab. Superiority is in taqwa. (Farewell Sermon)

5. What are slave rights in Islam?

• Be kind to what you have at hand (Nisa 36)

• Negotiators (slaves) are from the family, get them married (Nur 31-32 and 58)

• Food even though they need it; they feed the poor, the orphan, and the captive. (Human 8) Why don't they share the food with the slave? (Nahl 71)

• No captive/slave is taken for worldly gain (Anfal 67-68)

• Do not force your concubines into prostitution (Nur 33)

• Feed them what they eat, dress them with what they wear, call them 'my uncle, brother, son' according to their age, not my slave” . (Zabidi, Zeyduddin Ahmed)

• Slaves cannot be employed in hard labor.

• The person is treated like a member of the family. It is the responsibility of the person who protects them to pay their alimony, to protect them, to defend their rights.

• A slave with a Muslim has freedom of belief.

• He is exempt from zakat and pilgrimage because he cannot own property. The alms of fitr is given by his master. He is not obliged to jihad (if he has become a Muslim).

• "To take a slave in Islam is to be a slave." Keeping and feeding slaves under these conditions brings a heavy responsibility for those who do not free their slaves.

6. Ways of freeing slaves in Islam

1) Do take someone else's slave and free him immediately (like Hazrat Abu Bakr)

2) To free one's own slave unconditionally

3) Oath (Maide 89)

4) Zihar (Mücadele 3)

5) When he killed a man by mistake (Nisa 92)

6) Fasting penance

7) Giving Zakat (Baqara 177)

8) Contract of slave (Nur 33)

9) If there is a child as a result of marriage with the concubine, the concubine (Ummu veled)

10) If a child is born as a result of marriage with a slave, the child is born free.

11) Emancipation due to death (precaution). A person can free a slave after his death in order to regain his freedom.

12) Mandatory or legal emancipation.

7. What did the Prophet do to his slaves?

• Our Prophet had many slaves, but he freed them all. When he died, not a single slave was left at his disposal; He freed 69 men and 15 women.

• Hz. The Prophet intervened in the presence of people who owned a large number of slaves for their emancipation. Prophet, Cerîr b. He sent a letter to the Yemeni Ruler Zülkelâ' al-Himyeri through Abdullah, who then freed 4000 slaves under his control (Ibn Düreyd, p. 308; İbnü'l-Esîr, II, 176-177; İbn Hajar).

• When Zayd's parents learned that their son was in Mecca, Hz. They came to the Prophet and asked how much ransom he wanted to give him back. The Prophet said that they did not need to pay for it, and that Zayd could go with them if he wanted. However, Zayd He preferred to stay with the Prophet.

8. How did the Prophet treat his slaves?

• Whoever beats his slave, his punishment will be fulfilled by freeing his slave"

• “As Adam's descendants, slaves are also your brothers. It is God who makes it possible for them to be at your service. Do not forget that God may have subject you to their service; so treat them well. Consider also that the right and power that Allah has over you is greater than what you have over slaves." Supremacy is in taqwa (Veda sermon)

• Feed them from what you eat, dress them from what you wear, call them my uncle, brother, son, not my slave, according to their age. (Zabidi, Zayudin)

• “Whoever frees a Muslim slave, Allah will free one of his organs from Hell for every organ of that slave” (Bukhari, “Muslim)

• Even if an Abyssinian slave is appointed over you, listen to him.

9. Is it possible to be a slave forever in Islam?

• What is essential in Islam is freedom, not bondage. (Ali Imran 79, Mohammed 4, Zariyat 56). In reality, Islam accepts only servitude to Allah.

10. What was slavery like in the West over the years?

• Spartacus Revolt and Transatlantic slave tyranny, African slavery

• 1.5 million slaves died in inhumane conditions while being taken away.

• When purchased by the company, the company's unique brand was stamped on their breasts with a hot iron.

• They were chained by their wrists two by two and taken to the ships. When they boarded the ship, they were stripped naked.

• In 1781, the captain of the slave ship Zong, which was short of food and water, threw 136 slaves into the sea.

• Some Greek thinkers, such as Aristotle, vehemently advocated slavery

• Slavery was banned in the United States only after the Civil War, when the Northern states were victorious over slavery.