THE POSITION OF ISLAMIC LAW ON SLAVERY

(Mawqif Alshryet Al'iislamiat Min Alrriq)

A study written by Dr. Abdul Karim Zidan more than forty years ago, in which he dealt with the issue of slavery and the position of Islamic law on it, trying to correct the delusions that hung on this topic.

The article was published in the Iraqi Islamic Education Magazine, in its eleventh issue of its eighteenth year, issued in Jumada al-Akhira 1396 AH corresponding to May 30, 1976 CE

Smoothing

1)    Some ask:  What is the position of Islamic law on slavery? Do you allow it or prevent it? In fact, I asked this question more than once and in different periods and from my students at the university and others, and I thought it useful to write something about this topic hoping that this writing would help to erase and remove the illusions that hung on the topic of slavery because of the writings of some contemporary writers who wrote on the topic of slavery . And if writing on this topic is useful - God Almighty willing - as I said, then I do not see any benefit in elaborating, detailing, and surrounding particles because Muslims today, I believe, do not urgently need to know the details and particles of this topic, but rather they urgently need to know the details of the meanings Faith, to establish it in their souls and draw them to it, so that its effects appear on their words, deeds and behavior. That is why I will briefly summarize what is said about slavery.

2)  Before starting to speak, I think it is useful to present to the honorable readers the following rules:

The first rule:  Speech in Islamic law is a religion for which the Muslim is held accountable, because it is news about the law of God Almighty that cannot tolerate   blatant saying without evidence or proof.

The second rule: that the principles  of scientific research   require that the researcher be far from the passion, emotion and tendencies of the people in order to be able to present the results of his research honestly and truthfully, and if this is necessary in every research and for every researcher, then it is more necessary for those who research Islamic law and present its meanings and provisions to people .

The third rule:  The claim that something exists or not in the Sharia, meaning that the claim that something is permissible or prohibited in Islamic law,   lacks legal evidence to accept or reject this claim. The legal evidence is the Book of God and the Sunnah of His Prophet and the consensus of Muslim scholars and their acceptable jurisprudence of all kinds.

After this introduction, start answering the above question.

3)  We find in the Book of God Almighty many verses that acknowledge the ownership of a slave, such as the words of the Almighty in many places (or your faiths are possessed) and make the emancipation of slaves in the expiation for faith, zihar and killing of sin. These verses and the like explicitly indicate that Islamic law recognizes slavery.

4)  In the Prophet’s Sunnah there are many and explicit implications for the permissibility of slavery and its approval by the Prophet and the Prophet’s directness to him. The Prophet divided ﷺSabaya - meaning prisoners - Hawazin and Bani Al-Musalq after the Muslims defeated them. He divided them among the Muslims who participated in their fight, even if the Prophet ﷺBateq referred to the progeny of the sons of Al-Mustalq when they saw that the Prophet married a woman among them after he had caused her to be freed.

And it came in Zad al-Ma'aad to Imam Ibn al-Qayyim, may God Almighty have mercy on him, under the title "His guidance, peace be upon him, in the captives."

(He used to favor some of them, kill some of them, and spoil some of them with money, and some of them with Muslim prisoners, and he did it all according to the interest ... Then Ibn al-Qayyim said: And his gift was that the one who embraced Islam before the captivity was not enslaved, and he was stealing the captivity of the Arabs, as well as Others from the People of the Book enslave, and with Aisha - may God be pleased with her - they were captives.

5)  The Muslims, their scholars and common people, agreed on the permissibility of slavery, and no one disagreed about this. That is why we find in the books of fiqh in various Islamic sects chapters on slavery and slavery and its provisions.

6)  Based on the aforementioned,  Islamic law permits and does not prohibit slavery  .

The extent of its legality

7)   If Islamic Sharia permits livelihood, what is the degree of legitimacy of it, is it a duty, delegate, or permissible? The answer is that in principle it is permissible, because the source of slavery is prisoners of lawful war, and the imam has the choice of prisoners of war with a range of options, including slavery. He has the right to those who are against them, or he accepts the redemption from them, or kills some of them, or steals them. These options are in the right of male prisoners. As for women prisoners, there is no choice for the imam in them, but rather he steals them.

Its source

8) The  source of slavery is the legal war, and  I mean the war that Muslims wage against the infidels in defense of their religion, empowering it, defending their homes, or taking these homes from the hands of their enemies. As shown in the previous paragraph. And from this it is known that plundering the safe heat or buying them, even by mutual consent with their family and their families, none of that is suitable as a cause of slavery, and a person will not become slave by it, contrary to what some people think.

Suspicions and push them

9)    It may be said:

First:  The Noble Qur’an does not explicitly stipulate the permissibility of slavery, but rather (manna and   sacrifice) for prisoners, and this indicates the impermissibility of slavery.

The answer:  The Qur’an showed the permissibility of slavery by affirming ownership over slaves, and this is a method by which the permissibility of a thing is known as established in the principles of introspection. The second is that the Prophet’s Sunnah indicated the permissibility of slavery, and the Prophet’s Sunnah indicated that slavery is permissible, and the Sunnah is an authentic legal evidence from which rulings can benefit.

10)    Second:  It may be said that Islam called for emancipation, was keen on it, sought it and made it in the atonement, and this indicates the desire of Islam to prevent slavery and get rid of it, so it is not permissible because its impermissibility meets the desire of Islam.

The answer:  Islam called for spending money for the sake of God and we were excited about it, and no one said that earning money and collecting it is forbidden or not permissible, so is slavery. Urging to remove something after obtaining it does not mean that it is forbidden to obtain that thing in the first place.

11)    Third:  It may be said that Islam did not forbid slavery because it was a rampant phenomenon in the world and it was carried out by all nations, so it left its prohibition against time. If he accepts his ban, this saying is consistent with the desire of Islam

The answer : If the falsehood of falsehood or the corrupt does not call for the non-prevention and prohibition of it, did he not see that polytheism of all kinds was a rampant on the earth, and the first call to Islam was its prevention, its prohibition, its condemnation and the vilification of its people? Islam does not refrain from prohibiting what is seen for the spread of this forbidden, yes, it can be included in the prohibition and the prohibition as happened in the prohibition of alcohol, but it leaves the prohibition altogether and does not disclose it until the time of the Prophet’s message expires.

The idea behind the system of slavery

12)  The idea behind the system of slavery in Islamic law becomes clear with the wisdom of this system, explaining the following:

It is known that God Almighty created people to worship Him, and created things for them, so that they could use them to worship their Lord, the Almighty said (And I did not create jinn and mankind except for them to worship) and the purpose of worship is the goodness of man, his prosperity, and the perfection of his happiness. And God Almighty sent His Prophet Muhammad ﷺwith the message of Islam to inform people of the details of worship and its paths, and this message is the greatest blessing that God has ever bestowed upon His servants, and therefore the Almighty said: (And we have not sent you except as mercy for the world, so mercy and peace signifies the desire of goodness and goodness ... So good, good and blessing from God Almighty for all His servants. It is the right of people to receive this blessing and that there is no barrier between them and it. Rather, this blessing reaches them by conveying to them the message of Islam, and he did this in the most complete way until God Almighty passed away - and since many people did not receive the message of Islam, God Almighty commanded Muslims to convey itThe Almighty said (Say, This is my path: I pray to God on the insight of I and those who followed me) and he has undertaken this honorable mission the companions of the Prophet and whoever follows them with benevolence will remain a duty of the Muslims until the Day of Judgment. So if the Muslims convey the message of their Lord to save people from perdition, then someone who prevents them from this honorable mission and fights them to prevent them from delivering the blessing of Islam to the people, then God Almighty has authorized Muslims to fight these evil and unjust who prevent people from the blessing of God Islam. So if there were Muslim prisoners of the enemy in this war, what would they treat them with? They incriminated a two-pronged crime: the first was to prevent them from the path of God and prevent Muslims from conveying the grace of God to people and save them from perdition. And the second - their fight against the Muslims, who only wanted to save people and restore them to Islam. And about the crime of these wicked men who were captured by Muslims, "rescuers"Islam has decided the options that we have said about prisoners: As for manna, sacrifice, murder, and slavery, and since my talk about slavery, I am satisfied with stating the interest in it for those slavesI say:

The interest in it is apparent to them because with this slavery they transfer from their stinky, corrupt society to the pure, pure and pure society of Islam, and this enables them to see Islam clearly, contemplate and perform without misleading or misleading, and this will invite them to Islam and they will Islam. As for their freedom, it will return to them because of its many paths to them. Slavery, then, was a means for their Islam and their victory, and if that method was disliked for them in starting, how much of a blessing a person can receive by a hated path.

God bless our Prophet Muhammad and his family and him.

Dr. Abdul Karim Zidan