Slavery in the Moslem World: Recent incidents and old practice[1]
Muslims criticizers of ISIL and Boko Haram
3 August 2014, the self-declared Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) invaded the region of Sinjar. 250,000 Yazidis fled to a nearby mountain area or country. These terrorists killed more than 5,000 Yazidi men because they refused to convert Also they enslaved 7,000 Yazidi women and girls, some as young as nine, and forced them to marry a terrorist. The ones that refused were put on offer for sex-slavery on social media.[2] Why did ISIL/ISIS attack these Yezidis? Like all other Muslims, Yezidis believe in Allah, the One and Only God. But mainstream Muslims hate Yazidis for believing in Melek Taus, an angel with peacock wings. For other Muslims this is sacrilege. They see him as the devil in disguise. Worshippers of Satan must be killed.[3]
Mid 2010, Boko Haram topped the Global Terrorism Index.[4] These fanatic Sunni Terrorists planned to kill or convert all Shia Muslims in Nigeria. They killed tens of thousands of policemen, soldiers, and civilians. Their actions to regional food crises, the death of more than 300,000 children and the displacement of more than 2 million people. These fanatics hate the Western world. To them, Western educational books are sinful. Reading them is forbidden, in short: Boko Haram. February 2014, Boko Haram abducted and killed 59 schoolboys. They kidnapped and harassed 276 teenage schoolgirls. They “invited” them to convert (Dawa) and to wed one of the terrorists. Boko Haram refers to Sharia law, claim that “enslaving families of infidels and taking their women as concubines is a firmly established aspect of Islamic Law.”[5]
Many Muslims denounce the views and actions of the likes of ISIS/ISIL and Boko Haram. A group of 126 esteemed Sheiks, professors and imams argued that Boko Haram and ISIS/ISIL violate core rulings of Islam. 19 September 2014 they wrote an Open Letter to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, self-exclaimed Caliph of ISIS. These prominent and very concerned Muslims declared that in Islam a Jihad strictly is a defensive war. Jihad is not permissible without the right cause, the right purpose and the right rules of conduct. To make their point they produced an executive summary. Some of their 24 arguments are presented here. In Islam it is forbidden:
3 … to oversimplify Sharia matters and ignore established Islamic sciences
5 … to ignore the reality of contemporary times when deriving legal rulings
6 … to kill the innocent
7 … to kill emissaries, ambassadors, and diplomats; … journalists and aid workers
10 … to harm or mistreat Christians or any People of the Scripture (i.e. Yazidis)
12 … to re-introduce slavery, because this was abolished by universal consensus
14 … to deny women their rights
17 … to torture people
18 … to disfigure the dead
22 … to declare a caliphate without consensus from all Muslims
Bernard Freamon is an Afro-American Muslim. He is a renowned scholar of Islamic law and slavery. He is of the opinion that the acts and claims of Boko Haram, ISIS and the Taliban have to be countered, time and time again. Sending Open Letters is a good start, but much more has to be done to convince all Muslims that it is not right to enslave non-Muslims. For the time being Freamon speaks of the illusion of abolition of slavery in the Muslim world. Yet, he remains an ardent abolitionist and courageous criticizer of flagrant misinterpretations of Islam.[6]
It is an historical fact that The Prophet owned and sold slaves, just like many people of his day and age. For observant Moslems the last Apostle of Allah is their greatest and most sacred role model.[7] Yet, Freamon and the authors of the letter to Baghdadi are convinced that Muhammad, were he alive now, would not own, trade, propagate or legitimize slavery. Even in his own day and age, Freamon keeps stressing, Muhammad only condoned enslavement and sexual abuse of captives in proper jihads: in wars for the sake of defending Islam. Wars for the expansion of the power and territory of sheiks or sultans, do not count as such.[8]
The Prophet, Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Abd al-Muttalib, was born in Mecca in 570 CE. Mecca was an important international centre. Merchants traded in camels, hides, leather goods, clarified butter, and woollens. It was populated by Arabs, Jews, and Christians; a busy meeting point for different tribes, cultures and religion. Many of the religious ideas and teachings of The Prophet sprout from an impressive source of ancient religious ideas and parables. Before Muhammad became God’s messenger, people in and around Mecca prayed to celestial bodies like the sun and the moon. They also prayed to the stone that had fallen from heaven and was put in a cubic sanctuary, called Ka’aba, which is Arabic for cube. This sanctuary was restored many times. According to Islam, also prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) has helped to rebuild this sanctuary, together with his son Ishmael.[9] There is a huge overlap between the content of The Torah, The Old Testament and The Qur’an. All Jews, Christians and Muslims believe in the God of Abraham (Ibrahim) and several other prophets. In the timeline of Islam, Isa, or Jesus Christ, is the 24th prophet. Mohammad is the 25th. Neither Jews nor Muslims acknowledge Jesus as God’s son. Though Muslims see Jesus as the son of Miriam/Mary.[10] Despite so many similarities, the differences have made a bigger impact and driven them apart. These divides have triggered long lasting conflicts, killing thousands and thousands of people.
Descendancy of Ishmael, first son of Ibrahim
Before Muhammad was born his father had died. He belonged to the Banu Hashim, an aristocratic clan of the Quraysh. His family were guardians of the Ka’aba. Muhammad’s mother died when Muhammad was six. His granddad became his guardian. After he died, uncle Abu Talib took care of him. The Banu Hashim tribe descends from Ishmael, the son of Ibrahim and Hagar. Abraham or Ibrahim, first known as Abram, was born in the city of Ur, now Iraq. His father was Terah. He lived among the Chaldeans, an idol-worshipping people.
Abram was growing very old, but still he and his wife Sarai had no children. He feared to remain childless forever. Then the Lord appeared before him and said:
“Go from your country … and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”[11]
Abram did what God told him to do. He left the Chaldeans, together with Sarai, taking all his possessions and the persons he had bought.[12] When he arrived in Canaan, the Lord appeared, and said:
“To your offspring I will give this land …”[13]
At that time, Sarai was 75 and too old for childbearing. Abram and Sarai wondered about the words of The Lord. How could Abram’s descendants make a great nation if he had no children? Sarai found the answer. She told Abram to share the bed with Hagar, Sarai’s Egyptian maidservant.[14] Abram, aged 85, maybe he could sire a son with her. Then this son could have children and become the forefather of numerous descendants that God had foretold. She and Abram would raise Hagar’s boy as their own son – then a widely accepted method of family planning. Abram followed Sarai’s advice, slept with Hagar and she got pregnant. [15] Was she a female slave, and therefor compelled to have sex with her master or had Abraham married Hagar first? Jews and Christians think she was an enslaved servant. Muslims believe that Ibrahim had married Hager.
According to the Bible, pregnant Hagar began to look down upon her old and barren mistress. In reaction, Sarai treated Hagar badly. Abram sided with his wedded wife. Being a slave Hagar could not protest. She fled into the desert. Being pregnant she got tiered soon. She also began to feel very miserable. An angel of the Lord appeared when was resting near a well. He told her to return to Sarai and to submit to her mistress. He also told her that she would give birth to a son and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in heaven.[16] Hagar returned and a few months later she gave birth to a son.[17] She was told to name him Ishmael, meaning God hears, for God had listened to her complaints when she was feeling depressed. Her son Ishmael is seen as the ancestor of the Adnani-Arab people.
The Muslim story of Hagar is somewhat different. To begin with they call her Hajar or Hajaar. What is more important is that to them she is not a slave but a highly respected woman. She was a maid-servant of the king of Egypt, who gifted her to Sarah to be her servant.[18] Muslims see Hajaar as the wife of prophet Ibrahim and not as his concubine. As mother of Ishmael, she is revered as an important matriarch of Islam.
Once Allah told Ibrahim to take Haajar and Ismaa’eel to the desert. So he did and went back to Canaan leaving them behind at an isolated spot, where there was no water. When he told a very distraught Haajar that Allah had ordered to leave them behind, Sarah replied “Then Allah will not cause us to be lost.” She found a house to live in; now known as the Sacred House, the Kaaba. Of course, she and her son got thirsty and needed water. Seven times Haajar ran to the hills in search of water; seven times in vain. Then angel Jibril (Gabriel) appeared, telling her that God would help them. At that moment a spring burst under Ishmael’s heel.[19] Thereafter, Mecca got known for its abundance of clear water. After a few years Ibrahim returned to this site and helped to rebuilt the Sacred House (the Kaaba) at Mecca.
Thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael, the Lord appeared before Abram again. He told him that Sarai would bear him a son. Abram could not believe his ears:
“Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” Also Sarah burst out in laughing when she heard of this unbelievable news.[20]
The Lord told Abram to name his second son Yitzchak (Isaac), which means: “he laughs”. Also, God told Abram that, from now on, he should be called Abraham, meaning father of many. And Sarai should be called Sarah, meaning princess. God told Abraham that Isaac’s descendants would produce a multitude of nations.[21] The following year Sarah bore him a son. So, now Abraham had two sons: Ishmael and Isaac. Muslims see Ismael as a prophet and forefather of Prophet Muhammad. Jews see Isaac as a prophet and fore-father of the Jews. Ismael is Abraham’s firstborn son and Isaac is his second son. In that day and age this means that Ismael has more rights than Isaac. However, Jews and Christians make a distinction that is more crucial; being the son of an enslaved woman or a free woman.
“For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born through the promise.”[22]
Note that the Christian Apostle Paul, writing this few lines, first refers to what is written in The Bible (Old Testament). First he mentions the son of the slave-woman first (Ismael) and then the other, the son of the free woman (Isaac).[23] So for him, the Jews and the Christians it is clear: Hajaar is an enslaved woman. Muslims take a difference stance. We might wonder whether Muslims would ever have condoned, practiced and legitimized slavery if Hagar, their highly revered foremother, was a slave, treated as such by Abraham and Sarah.
From merchant to God’s Messenger
Muhammad became a successful merchant in Mecca. In 595 CE, aged 25, he married Khadijah, a rich widow. By all accounts this marriage was a happy one.[24] In 610, Muhammad told Khadijah and a few trusted friends that Archangel Gabriel had appeared before him and told him that God had appointed him as his messenger. Allah, the One and Only God, had tasked him to confirm the teachings of earlier prophets such as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. But Muhammad was the last prophet that God would send.[25] A few years later, in 613 BCE, Khadijah and a few intimate followers stimulated Muhammad to tell this to a wider audience. Not surprisingly, many eyebrows were raised when Muhammad presented himself as the last Messenger of Allah, ordered to warn them for the Day of Judgment. Therefore he told them to stop with all sinful activities and to do only what was right in the eyes of God. Otherwise, they would forever burn in hell. He made many enemies, telling people that all their idols were false and must be destroyed. The more his circle of followers expanded, the more he angered his opponents. In 622 CE, their threats became so serious that Muhammad fled to Medina where he hid himself in a cave. Yet the number of his followers kept growing. And so did his status and power.
In 627 CE, the enemies of The Prophet decided to crush him, his army and his entire flock. Salman the Persian, a new convert and military innovator, advised Muhammad to dig trenches. The Banu Qurayza, a Jewish tribe living in Medina, offered helpful equipment such as spades. The battle of the Trench became a big success for Muhammad’s army. In the trenches his soldiers were in an excellent position to surprise and kill hundreds of mounted men and their horses. Though the Banu Qurayza leaders had helped with equipment, their men refused to participate in the battle because Muhammad had criticized Jews. The Prophet interpreted this as treason and began to attack them. The Banu Qurayza surrendered after a siege of 25 days. Commander Sa’d ibn Muadh ordered to kill the defeated men, loot their property and enslave their women and children. Muhammad approved. About 800 captured males were beheaded, including all boys that had reached puberty.[26] Three years later, Muhammad marched off with an army of 10,000 men and seized Mecca. His ruthless soldiers destroyed all the idol statues and most denizens of Mecca converted to Islam.
The Prophet, the Hadith, the Qur’an and Slavery
Slavery was wide spread and widely accepted when Muhammad was alive. This might explain why The Qur’an contains 29 out of 124 Suhras that mention slavery. For instance, Suhra 16 reads that it is the will of Allah that there are masters and slaves, that masters should maintain their privileged position and should keep a clear social distance towards their slaves.[27] According to Suhra 2: 178, murder should be sanctioned with parity: a free man for a free man, a slave for a slave, a woman for a woman, implying that men, women and slaves differ in social status. On the other hand, there are also verses commending people to emancipate one or more slaves. Suhra 4:92 says that a Muslim who killed another believer by mistake – for instance during a chaotic battle – has to free an enslaved believer:
“It is not for a believer to slay another believer … And he who has slain a believer by mistake, his atonement is to set free from bondage a believing person.” [28]
Suhra 2:177 conveys that a righteous person believes in Allah, the Last Day, the Angels, the Book, and the Prophets. Righteous believers should give money to orphans, beggars and poor people. They should help freeing individual slaves.[29] Deeds count more than words. Mere believing is not enough. Only Muslims who truly believe and do good will become eternal residents of Paradise.[30] But what is a good act? Freeing someone’s neck from slavery is.[31] Suhra 90:13 also states that bringing an orphaned child into your home and treating this child well is a good deed.
Slavery has two important functions. Slaves deliver work and services. And, also very important, it fosters demographic growth so that, in future, Muslims will outnumber non-Muslims.
Marry those of you that are single, (whether men or women), and those of your male and female slaves that are righteous. If they are poor, Allah will enrich them out of His Bounty. (Qur’an 24 – 32)
This text is seen as a divine encouragement to create a new generation of slaves by arranging marriages between healthy, adult slaves. Suhra 24:34 instructs believers not to force their female slaves into prostitution. He who lacks the means to marry a free Moslem wife may marry one of his slaves.[32]
Allah’s Apostle showed a great concern for the sexual needs of soldiers, far from home, engaged in jihads. How can they satisfy their sexual needs without committing a sin? Islam only allows intercourse with your wedded wife or wives, or with your enslaved women, but not with other women.[33] According to Sharia Law, favoured by all militant Islam fighters, any wife kidnapped in a jihad becomes the captor’s slave and annuls her existing marriage.[34] So the captor may have sex with her. She cannot refuse, because she is his slave now. In case she is pregnant, she should be sold or handed back after a ransom is paid. According to Saria Law, the victor is allowed to sleep with this captured woman, because she is his slave now. However, he has to check whether she is not pregnant. He can have sex with her after she has menstruated.
Abu Dawub once heard the Messenger of Allah say:
“ … Some companions of the Apostle of Allah were reluctant to have intercourse with female captives in the presence of their husbands who were unbelievers. So Allah, the Exalted, sent down Qur’an verse 4:24. ‘And all married women (are forbidden) unto you save those (captives) whom your right hand possess.”[35]
In other words, if Allah blesses you with a victory, you may celebrate this victory by having sex with the wives of defeated men, even before the eyes of their captured husbands. Of course, nowadays, such abusive behaviour would be seen as rape. And to make matters worse, raping a beloved wife in front of the captured husband will be traumatizing for both of them and haunt them for the rest of their life. Most of us have heard or have read of similar shocking acts committed by German and Russian soldiers in World War II. Nowadays abusive acts like these are considered crimes of war. ISIL and Boko Haram fighters do not see it that way. They will quote verse 8:69, which urges Muslim jihadis to enjoy their victory over non-believers 100 per cent. This verse states that is legal to consummate what you have taken.[36] ISIL and Boko ignore that renowned Islam scholars have argued not to use these verses as an excuse for enslaving defeated persons.[37]
By the way, The Old Testament contains a similar message, which reveals how people viewed slavery, slaves and their treatment long ago:
“But if a city does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it: and when the Lord your God gives it into your hand you shall put all its males to the sword, but the women and the little ones, the cattle, and everything else in the city all its spoil, you shall take as booty for yourselves, and you shall enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the Lord your God has given you.”[38]
Bernard Freamon has studied all sayings of the Prophet about slavery, compiled in the Hadith.[39] Referring to Hadith 430 Freamon shows no reluctance to conclude that God denounces slavery:
“Allah says, ‘I will be against three persons on the Day of Resurrection: 1. One who makes a covenant in My Name, but he proves treacherous. 2. One who sells a free person (as a slave) and consumes the price, 3. And one who employs a labourer and gets the full work done by him but does not pay him his wages’.”[40]
From other documented sayings one cannot draw the conclusion that The Prophet opposed slavery. God’s Messenger simply refers to the obligation to pay the right price for a slave.
“If there is no appreciable difference between the slaves, two should not be bartered for one … even if their racial type is different.”[41]
Another Hadith text says that Muhammad once bartered two black slaves for one Arab Muslim slave, though under very specific circumstances.
There came a slave and pledged allegiance to Allah’s Apostle on migration; he (the Holy Prophet) did not know that he was a slave. Then there came his master and demanded him back, whereupon Allah’s Apostle said: Sell him to me. And he bought him two black slaves … [42]
It is thinkable that some of the words and deeds of Allah’s Messenger, as compiled in the Hadith, have been passed down incorrectly. For that reason, among Muslim scholars, the Hadith are being disputed somewhat more freely than verses from the Qur’an. Common Muslims will hardly ever dare to question the Qur’an or the Hadith. Hence, they will read the following examples as clear legitimation of slavery.
Bukhari: 52-255: The slave who accepts Islam and continues serving his Muslim master will receive a double reward in heaven.
Bukhari 41.598: Slaves are property. They cannot be freed if an owner has outstanding debt, but can be used to pay off the debt.
Suhra 90 says that the righteous believer always should choose the right path, the narrow, difficult and challenging path that leads to heaven and avoid the easy, broad and downhill path that leads to hell. But what is the right way? What is a good deed in Islam? Well, freeing a slave is. But this is not easy in a society that considers slavery as a completely normal and legal. Also The Prophet owned slaves. He did not he set them free. Why? Why did not he advocate abolition of slavery? Why did he use enslavement as an instrument in war? To explain this, Freamon refers to the historical context. At the time everyone who could afford it owned slaves; not only the very rich and powerful. Advocating the emancipation of all slaves would create strong opposition. The Prophet was already arousing fierce opposition by telling people to get rid of their idols. To tell them also to free their slaves would endanger his life even more.[43] Whatever his thoughts were on this matter, God’s Messenger did not protest against slavery. So it is no wonder that most of his followers did not feel compelled to do so. Century after century, Muslim rulers raided villages and towns in Eastern Europe, Africa, India and South East Asia, pillaging houses, farms and shops; killing, capturing and enslaving men and children.”[44]
Prophet Muhamad died in 632. His father-in-Law Abu Bakr (573-634) became his successor.[45] Abu Bakr became the First Caliph, the ruler over all Muslims. He had always been a close aide to The Messenger of Allah, in combat and in peace.[46] He died in 634. Umar ibn al-Khattab became the Second Caliph. Umar was born in Mecca in 584 CE, received a good education and also was a good wrestler. At first he had despised the new rules preached by Muhammad. He had persecuted followers of The Prophet, but his sister and her husband influenced him to convert. From then on he defended The Prophet against all enemies. When Muhammad left Mecca, Umar became one of his close companions. His daughter Hafsa became the fourth wife of Prophet Muhammad.
Caliph Umar, the Second Caliph, was the most caliph ever.[47] He was a strong supporter of slavery, but decreed that all Arab slaves must be freed and to be replaced by non-Arab workers or servants. This decree lead to many more campaigns to capture and abduct thousands of men, women, and children from Africa. Specialists estimate that through the ages Arabic traders captured and deported about 102 million Black Africans. Another very shocking estimate is that 5 out of 6 of these African captives died during the long and exhausting march to the Middle East. That’s more than 80 per cent. These deadly marches could stretch over more than thousand kilometres, passing tropical jungles, rain forests, scorched savannahs and overheated deserts. Those who got sick, dehydrated, or injured, where left by the wayside, to die alone, in a slow and agonizing process or to be killed by lions or other predators.
Also numerous people from India and Persia fell in the hands of Arabic invaders and slave traders. In the Middle Ages also millions of Europeans, especially in the Slavic countries, Muslim troops have captured and forced many Christians into slavery.[48] First, the Ottoman armies invaded and plundered Eastern Europe. Later, they moved on to Central and Western Europe.
In the childhood years of Islam expansionism, Muslims did not kill all the men they defeated. They needed more soldiers than they could recruit from their own flock. Hence, they conquered, enslaved, converted and enlisted numerous young and able foreigners. They also “recruited” enslaved men by buying them from traders. In Arabic these foreign soldiers are called Mamlukes.[49] This practice had been started in Baghdad by the ʿAbbāsid caliph al-Muʿtaṣim (833–842). Caliph Al-Muʿtaṣim recruited the first Mamlukes and gave them a thorough military traininig. When he got entangled in wars against other Muslims, he used his Mamluke soldiers to dodge the rule that forbids Muslims to make war with Muslims.[50]
Racial discrimination was and is an almost ubiquitous. It even exists among oppressed and discriminated people. In Turkey, Arabia and in conquered Persia, the white Mamlukes formed the cavalry; black Mamlukes were foot soldiers or ordered to do menial non-military jobs. Barracks, army tents and residences were racially segregated. Mamlukes originating from Slavic Countries, Turkey, Kurdistan or Northern Africa, could kill their black brothers in arms for being disrespectful with impunity.[51] Quite a few of the enslaved non-Blacks got promoted to top military ranks. Some of these Mamluke generals have seized control over government, not shying away from murdering a sheik or sultan who blocked their way.[52]
In 1249, Christian crusaders began to fight back. They invaded Egypt and conquered Damietta.[53] An outraged Sultan Al-Salih Ayyub ordered the hanging of more than 50 of his defeated commanders for cowardice and desertion. After he died, his wife Shajar al-Durr took over control. She had been one of his concubines. Sultan Ayyub had married her after she gave birth to his son. Her top-advisors thought it better to pretend that the deceased sultan still was alive while crusaders invaded their territory. In this male-dominated world Shajar al-Durr was put under heavy pressure to marry again. She gave in and married Commander Atabeq Emir Aybah, a Mamluke. Seven years later the new sultan was killed while enjoying a bath. In the power struggle that followed, vice-regent Sayf-al-Din Qutuz took over. He also was a Mamluke. Qutuz organized a counter attack when a large multi-ethnic Mongol Army,[54] led by Christian Turk Kitbuga (Ked-buqa), conquered some cities. Qutuz got help from Baybars al Bunduqdari. This top-general was familiar with the area and defeated the Mongols with their own tactical weapon: feigning a retreat and then return with surprise attacks. The victorious general plotted the murder of Qutuz and seized power.[55] Baybars reigned from 1260 till 1277. He restored internal stability and founded an Egyptian Mamluke Dynasty in which all sultans had entered life as son of a slave. Step by step these Turkish-Egyptian Mamlukes ousted the crusaders from the Levant.[56]
The decline of the Mamluke dynasty began when a Circassian sultan seized power in 1382 and decreed that only Circassians were eligible for succession. No longer, priority was given to military skills. This fuelled ethnic tensions and weakened the army. An epidemic plague killed thousands of people, including many miliary men. The weakened Mamlukes could not counter the Portuguese assault on their trade in the Red Sea, nor the further expansion of the Ottomans. By 1517, Syria and Egypt had been degraded into provinces of the Ottoman Empire. This was the end of the Mamluke dynasty. Yet, the rigorous army training of Mamlukes went on. When Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798, he encountered ferocious resistance from their cavalry. Napoleon did win, but was greatly impressed by his opponents.[57]
Other slaves had to work in the salt mines where the work was so exhaustive that no slave lived for more than five years:
“… black slave gangs that toiled in the salt flats of Basra were fed, we are told, on a few handfuls of flour, semolina, and dates”[58]
Others had more luck. They had to work on small farms, in shops and workshops, where working conditions were better. Young females were forced to become their master’s concubine or bought by Sheiks that added them to their harem, guarded by eunuchs. Eunuchs were enslaved men that had been castrated to prevent them from having sex with harem girls. Testicles of white Eunuchs had been removed by non-Muslims, because Islam forbids castration. [59] Genitals of many black Eunuchs were being cut off completely, leading to a dangerous loss of blood, followed by an horrific method of creating a fake vagina. Only a small proportion survived such an ordeal. These “reconstructed” survivors were in high demand by men with abnormal desires, willing to pay extremely high prices for them. Thus, the callous traders still made a profit, despite the loss of many young lives.[60]
Moslems are forbidden to mutilate people. Once The Prophet had ordered the mutilation of thieves that had stolen his camels. Allah reprimanded Muhammad, telling him that mutilation was forbidden. Though the penalty for waging war against Allah and his Messenger is execution, crucifixion, cutting off one hand and one leg on opposite sides, or exile from the land.[61] The companion of the Prophet, Anas b. Malik, tells: “Thereafter, mutilation was forbidden.”[62] It seems that the likes of ISIL/ISIS, all claiming to be righteous Muslims, clearly ignore sacred Islamic sources. How could such mutilations happen on a large scale? Muslims outsourced this repulsive practice to non-Moslems, such as Copts.
At the beginning of the 10th century, the Caliph of Baghdad owned 7.000 black eunuchs and 4,000 white ones.[63] These numbers reek of exaggeration. But even if we would have learned that he owned “only” 70 black and 40 white eunuchs, that means 110 castrated men, we would still be shocked. Despite being captured, forcefully taken to an alien country, many of them managed to adjust, to make a career and live in luxury. Eunuchs were given tasks that demanded great loyalty, servility and trust. As castrated men, their best option was to bond with their master. Helping him with bathing, clothing and serving meals every day made them the most intimate and best informed servants. They knew everything about all his affairs, be it political, financial or romantic. No wonder that many eunuchs rose to top positions. Several made a career in the Ottoman government, such as grand vizier Hadim Ali Pasha, Sinan Boroviniv and Hadim Hasan Pasha.[64]
Marriages between Arab men and enslaved black women were discouraged. Yet recent genetic studies show that interethnic liaisons did happen quite often. A recent study found proof of a substantial mtDNA gene flow from sub-Saharan Africa to Arab countries.[65] In Arabia and North Africa, men of high status with Black African features still are referred to as ould khadem (meaning: son of an enslaved wife). In the heydays of slavery, Arab and Turkish masters frequently had sex with black concubines, but one rarely did see a mulatto child.[66] Most mulatto babies were killed as soon as they were born, though the Qur’an forbids infanticide.[67]
Freeing slaves
Five Qur’an verses discuss the freeing of individual slaves. Nowhere the Qur’an states that slavery is wrong. Suhra 2:177 stays that freeing a slave is a righteous deed. In three other verses owners are ordered to emancipate one or more slaves to atone for their sins. The Qur’an commands that a man who divorced his wife, but later wants to restore the marriage, must free a slave before resuming their sexual relation. The same applies to one who wants to restore his marriage after he has said unforgivable things to her, implying that he no longer can have sex with her.
Those who declare their wives to be their mothers and thereafter go back on what they have said shall free a slave before they may touch each other. That is what you are exhorted to do. Allah is fully aware of all your deeds. Suhra 58:3.
Suhra 5:89 is about making reparation for a broken oath:
“He will impose blame upon you for breaking what you intended of oaths. So its expiation is the feeding of ten needy people … or the freeing of a slave.”
All these verses have nothing to do with a general abolition of slavery. Only individual slaves that are decent, obedient and hard working can buy their freedom:
“… then make a contract with them if you know there is within them goodness and give them from the wealth of Allah which He has given you. And do not compel your slave girls to prostitution …”[68]
In this context goodness implies three things:
a. The slave must be capable of earning his emancipation money through hard work. b. He should be honest, truthful and reliable and not waste his earnings.
c. The owner should make sure that the slave has no immoral inclinations and does not harbour feelings of hatred against Islam or Muslims. These extra precautions were absolutely necessary for the prisoners of war that were made slaves.
Suhra 90 tells all believers to do well to take the difficult steps that lead to paradise, such as spending part of your wealth for freeing someone from slavery or feeding hungry people.[69] Paying a slave owner to free one, two or more of his slaves is a mighty good deed, but this does not lead to general abolition. That owner will use this money to buy one or more new slaves.
On issues such as slavery and punishments The Qur’an is more at par with the Torah and The Old Testament than with the teachings of Jesus Christ as laid down in The New Testament. Another important difference between Islam and the Christian faith is that Muhammad, their Great Example, did own a few slaves, whereas Jesus did not.[70] Hence, for Muslims it is quite a challenge to argue that slavery ought to be abolished. unacceptable. But, at least, Muslim abolitionists can point to a few suhras that commands them to treat their slaves well and that setting one or some slaves free would give them high rewards in the afterlife.
Several scholars claim that Islam played an important role in humanizing slavery. They assert that Muslims viewed their enslaved servants as fellow humans, and treated them better. But the basics of slavery remained: forced labour, absolute obedience to one’s master.[71]
Belated attempts to Abolition of Slavery in the Muslim World.
Turkey was the first independent Muslim country that forbade slavery. The year was 1933, almost a century later than Great Britain (1838), seven decades after the USA (1865). Turkey could have abolished slavery earlier. In 1847, Sultan Abdulmejid I of the Ottoman Empire forbade slave markets. But the Turkish slave traders would not have it. In those years Ottomans still organized lucrative slave raiding expeditions in Eastern Europe, Northern Africa and Europe.[72] The Upper Nile delta and Abyssinia were rich hunting grounds for capturing Blacks. Each year they hauled 10.000 or more slaves via Ottoman Egypt to Red Sea ports. Sultan Abdulmejid I had studied in Europe. His mother was a Circassian. In 1854, he made his first step towards abolition by stopping the trade of Circassian children. The following year, he decreed that all Ottoman citizens should have equal rights. This implied the end of slavery and slave trading. Alas, his decree was annulled after strong protests from Mecca and Medina. The top-clerics of these two central cities of Islam viewed any form of modernization as a dangerous attack on Islam.[73] Hence, there still was a viable slave market in Mecca, in 1925.
In 1912, France had subjugated Morocco and turned into a “protectorate”. That same year France decreed that slavery had to stop immediately. Alas, the practice continued.[74] Decades later, in 1958, two years after Morocco became independent, slaves were still being traded in Goulmina.[75] Yemen and Oman formally ended slavery in 1970. In 1981, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania was the last nation that made slavery illegal.[76] But this did not stop this sickening practice in distant, thinly populated areas. These regions were hard to police. Slavery in Mauritania was so deeply entwined in its old caste-like structure that even freed people held on to a master-slave relation towards descendants of their masters. Within this rigid system the Haratines (Black Moors) form the lowest class. These darker skinned people remain enslaved by the somewhat lighter-skinned Berbers or White Moors. Until this day, Haratines are viewed and classified as slaves or descendants of slaves, even when their ancestors have been freed generations ago. To date, they still are discriminated and fooled to believe that they are chained in bondage forever; their only solace being that they might go to heaven if they obey their master. They are warned that disobedience or running away will pave their path to hell. Since they are unable to read, they cannot check whether this is in accordance with the Qur’an or the words of the Prophet. In 2007, the parliament forbade slavery and decreed that people holding slaves must be punished.[77] Four years later, in 2011, Ahmed Ould El Hassine was the first slave-owner who was sent to prison. The NGO Anti-Slavery International website contains many sad stories about people being kept in bondage for life. About 400,000 Haratines still live in a state of slavery today. They are mistreated and exploited during long working days in return for poor food, minimal clothing and shabby shelter. They also have to endure sexual harassment and lashings.[78]
Journalist John D. Slutter checked practices of slavery in Mauritania. He spoke to several masters and slaves. His story starts with the horrific tale of Moulkheir Mint Yarba. One day she returned from tending her master’s goats to find that her baby had died. Her master, who had raped her and sired this child, believed that she would work faster without the baby on her back. He told her to leave the baby behind. Next he had put the baby outdoors, to die in the scorching heat of the desert. When she returned to feed her baby and found that it had died, her grief was indescribable. When she asked her master if she could give her daughter a proper burial, he cold-heartedly replied: Get back to work. “Her soul is a dog’s soul.”[79] Moulkheir was born a slave. As a young child she had to herd goats, living like an animal among animals, torn away from her family at such an early age that she does not even remember her mother. All her children were the result of rape by her master.[80] She was freed in 2010 thanks to courageous help of two abolitionists: a former slave and a former master.
At the occasion of his circumcision Abdel, a Mauritanian boy, was offered a personal slave. He chose Yebawa, a young clumsy boy that he found funny. He was not given as a play mate, but to herd goats and camels. Abdel was sent to high school, many miles away. There, he learned that humans are born free and that slavery had been abolished in most countries. Also Mauritania was going to abolish slavery. In 1981, Mauritania became the last country to abolish slavery.[81] It did not take long before Abdel concluded that slavery was wrong. He finished school, returned home, and told all slaves that they were free. No one believed him. No one dared to leave his master.[82]
Sudan held on to traditional forms of slavery until the end of the millennium. Reports of human rights organizations show that slavery still exists there. Militias and anti-government rebels attack unharmed civilians. They turn captured boy into amoral child soldiers. The government claims that these practices occur during inland tribal wars they cannot control. Human Rights Watch rejects this view. It argues that the Sudanese government supports numerous militias and condones kidnapping and convict labour. The revival of tribal wars has led to much more kidnappings of women and children. Some were set free after paying a ransom, others were sold as slaves. What happened to these girls can be read in the autobiography of Mende Nazer. She was ensnared in 1992, sold to a rich Arabic family that sold her on to a Sudanese diplomat in London. There, she escaped and asked for asylum.[83]
Not so long ago, in 2008, Palestinian-Saudi Sheikh Muhammad Al Munajjid conveyed a fatwa, stating that, according to his interpretation of the teachings of the Prophet, Muslim men are entitled to the sexual services of their wives and their female slaves. In case the wife or slave refuses, the man has the right to beat her, though without injuring her body. He may also punish her by withholding clothing or food.[84] In January 2016, the Sheikh argued that a Muslim wife has no right to object to her husband having sex with his female slaves. Every wife that forbids his man to have intercourse with his female slave is a sinner.[85]
Why was the Muslim World late with abolishing slavery? Was it, because The Prophet owned slaves? Was it, because he approved the enslavement of captives of war, including their wives and children? When Muhammad was married with more than one wife, he also married Djoewaria bint Harith, the daughter of a defeated sheikh.[86]
In the past the overwhelming majority of Moslems could not read and analyze the Qur’an and the Hadith. No one could put or dared to put these ancient texts their historical context. To date, most Muslim children learn to read, but in Qur’an schools young Muslims are stimulated to learn Qur’an texts by heart. Students are not stimulated to analyse these texts from different angles. Serious theological study is left to imams and specialized scholars. Even specialists have to be very careful with what they say or write. Any accusation of blasphemy can lead to a death penalty or a murderous action by a mob.
In the past, the small number of Muslims that advocated abolition have faced fierce opposition. It is a sin to forbid anything that appears to be allowed by God. This is just as bad as doing things that God has forbidden.[87] Despite all this, Professor Bernard Freamon presents arguments that might convince Muslims that abolition is good. The Qur’an tells believers that freeing a slave is a good act. And good acts help to pave the way to heaven. This must stimulate people to make a plea for abolition of all slavery.
Islamist Bernard Freamon thinks that The Prophet never propagated abolition for all slaves. He argues that all social issues have to be put in a historical and social context. When The Prophet was alive slavery was widespread, widely accepted and never questioned. He only told his followers that Muslims are not allowed to enslave other Muslims. A typical supremacist and our-people-first approach. Similar ethnocentric approaches can have existed in many other nations and religions in many historical timeframes. And they still exist today.
According to some Islamic texts Muslims are allowed to enslave non-Muslims that are being defeated in a Jihad, in an authentic war to defend Islam. Freamon is convinced that if The Prophet were alive now, he would support the abolition of slavery. He would take into account that nowadays slavery is deemed illegal and inhuman all over the world. Since forms of “Modern slavery” and human trafficking still exist in the Middle East and other Muslims countries, the work of scholars like Freamon and the authors of the Open Letter to Abu Bakr Al-Bagdadi urgently need to be carried on to prevent any resurrection of fanatic movements like ISIL and Boko Haram that propagate and will practice enslavement of anyone considered not to be a true Muslim.
[1] This chapter 5 of my book project: From Ancient Slavery to Abolition (words 7451 4-3-2026)
[2] Yazidi genocide: Wikipedia.org. Retrieved: 4 January 2024
[3] In 1640, 40,000 Ottomans attacked Yazidi communities around Mount Sinjar. They killed 3,000 Yazidis in battle, and more than 1,000 Yezidis that had fled into mountain caves. Idem
[4] Global Terrorism Index 2015: Institute for Economics and Peace. November 2015. p. 41
[5] Bernard Freamon: ISIS says Islam justifies slavery – what does Islamic law say? thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com. Retrieved: 14 May 2019
[6] Bernard K. Freamon: Chapter “The Illusion of Abolition” in Bernard K. Freamon: Possessed by the right hand. The problem of slavery in Islamic Law and Muslim Cultures: Brill NV, Leiden 2019.
[7] Surah 33:21. There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern for everyone whose hope is in Allah and the Last Day …
[8] Bernard Freamon: Toward the Abolition of Slavery under the Aegis of Islamic Law. The Comparative Jurist: May 2020. This point was also made in the Open Letter to Baghdadi of ISIS. (8. Jihad in Islam is defensive war. It is not permissible without the right cause, the right purpose and without the right rules of conduct.)
[9] Kaaba: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaaba: Retrieved 24 January 2025.
[10] Surah 33:7. And ˹remember˺ when We took a covenant from the prophets, as well as from you ˹O Prophet˺, and from Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, son of Mary. We did take a solemn covenant from ˹all of˺ them.
[11] Genesis 12:1
[12] Like all wealthy men Abraham owned several slaves: persons he had bought.
[13] Genesis 12: 7-8
[14] In Hebrew Hagar means foreigner. Some historians claim that Hagar was a princess, and that the Pharaoh had presented one of his daughters to become Abram’s wife: Hagar: en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved: 2 January 2024
[15] Genesis 16; NIV
[16] Genesis 16:9-10
[17] His name means: God hears.
[18] She mentioned in the Qur’an though not by her name.
[19] Qur’an;14:37
[20] Genesis 17
[21] Genesis 17:14
[22] Galatians 4:22-23
[23] This is important because there is a longstanding dispute between Muslims and Jews and Christians whether Abraham/Ibrahim was ordered to sacrifice Ismael or Isaac. The Holy Books speak of the first son. That can only mean Ismael and not Isaac. Finally: Apostle Paul makes a third and very Christian distinction being a child born in a natural way, through the flesh, and Isaac, being conceived in a non-natural, but a Divine way. Does Paul imply that sons of a slave-woman does not count as a real son and therefore Isaac will be seen as the first son?
[24] Muhammad – Wikipedia. Retrieved: 8 November 2023
[25] Qur’an 33:40; Seal of the Prophets: en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved: 10 January 2025
[26] Siege of Banu Qurayza: Wikipedia. Retrieved: 5 January 2024
[27] Surah 16:75: Allah sets forth the Parable (of two men: one) a slave under the dominion of another; He has no power of any sort; and (the other) a man on whom We have bestowed goodly favours from Ourselves, and he spends thereof (freely), privately and publicly: are the two equal? (By no means;) praise be to Allah. corpus.quran.com
[28] He who doesn’t have enough money to set free a slave has to fast for two consecutive months.
[29] Suhra 2: 177. A righteous one believes in Allah, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the Prophets and gives wealth, in spite of love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveller, the beggar and for freeing slaves …
[30] Suhra 2: 82
[31] Suhra 90:13
[32] Suhra 4:25; [W]hoever among you cannot [find] the means to marry free, believing women, then [he may marry] from those whom your right hands possess.
[33] Suhra 23: 5: [Do] not approach anyone except the wives whom Allah has made permissible for them
[34] See Hadith: Muslim 3901, Ibn Ishaq 693 and Umdat al Salik 09.13.
[35] Hadith: Abu Dawud 2150.
[36] Suhra 8:69: So consume what you have taken of war booty [as being] lawful and good, and fear Allah. corpus.quran.com.
[37] Bernard Freamon: Freedom from Slavery under Islamic Law. Fordham International Law Journal, Vol. 39:245, pp 277-280
[38] Deuteronomy 20:12-14
[39] Hadith means “story, report or account”. These authorized sayings of The Prophet have been heard, and recorded by contemporaries or people who know these statements from “reliable hearsay”.
[40] Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 3, Book 34: Sales and Trade, Hadith No. 430
[41] Muwatta Malik: Book 31 Hadith on Business transactions.
[42] The Book of Musaqah: The possibility of selling animals for animals of the same kind …. Book 22: Hadith 152. (English reference: Book 10: Hadith 3901) Sunnah.com: Retrieved: 11-6-2023
[43] Muhammad is seen as the last prophet in a long line of prophets in what Moslems call the Religion of Ibrahim (Abraham). The list begins with Adam and includes familiar Biblical prophets like Noah, Abraham, and Moses. To Muhammad Jesus was not the son of God, but the last prophet before him.
[44] Bernard K. Freamon: o. c.
[45] Aisha, his daughter, was the third wife of The Prophet.
[46] Abu Bakr: en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved: 8 January 2024
[47] Omar: en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 17-9-2021
[48] The invasions in East and Central-Europe were so frequent, and the capturing of Slavic people was so enormous that all bonded people were called Slavs.
[49] The term Mamluk appears to be derived from the first four syllables of “ma malakat aimanukum,” the term used in the Qur’an. Literal translation: “What your right hand possesses,” meaning slave.
[50] Surah 4:92: It is not for a believer to slay another believer. …
[51] Black domestic slave women performed menial work while whites tended to be personal attendants. White slave women did cost at least three times more than brown-skinned women and about ten times more than black slave women. Steve Farron: Black Slavery in the Middle East. amren.com. Retrieved: 9 January 2024
[52] Mamlūk | Islamic dynasty | Britannica.com. Retrieved 9 January 2024
[53] Later, Mamluks defeated the French. Louis IX was captured and forced to pay a huge ransom.
[54] There also were sizable numbers of Syrian warriors, and Christian Georgian and Armenians fighters. britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Ayn-Jalut. Retrieved: 12-9-2021
[55] Idem
[56] Mamluk | Islamic dynasty | Britannica.com. o. c.
[57] Near the end of the 17th century the Ottoman Empire fell into disarray and Istanbul had to grant autonomy to a Mamluk state in of Egypt. In 1811, their power was finally crushed by Egypt’s new ruler, Muhammad Ali Pasha. wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamluk; Retrieved 7 March 2018
[58] Farron, Steve: Black Slavery in the Middle East: www.amren.com/features
[59] Islam forbids castration. Therefore this nasty job was delegated to non-Muslims.
[60] Eunuchs: Wikipedia. Wikipedia refers to Peter Charles Remondino: History of Circumcision from the Earliest Times to the Present. (Orig. published in 1900.) Retrieved via Google Books
[61] Suhra 5:33
[62] Beheading, Torture, Mutilation. perennialvision.org. This article refers to Hadith collection of Sunan Abu Dawud (4368/4370)
[63] Eunuchs: Wikipedia. Retrieved: 22 August 2015
[64] Slavery in the Ottoman Empire: Wikipedia. Retrieved: 1`January 2024
[65] Miscegenation: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miscegenation#Middle_East. Wikipedia refers to: Richards, M.; Rengo, C.; Cruciani, F.; Gratrix, F.; Wilson, J. F.; Scozzari, R.; MacAulay, V.; Torroni, A. (2003): “Extensive Female-Mediated Gene Flow from Sub-Saharan Africa into Near Eastern Arab Populations” The American Journal of Human Genetics. 72 (4): 1058–1064 Retrieved 14-9-2021
[66] Farron, Steven: Black Slavery in the Middle East. American Renaissance; Posted February 24, 2017
www.amren.com
[67] Qur’an 17:31; 81:8-9; 16:60-62.
[68] Suhra 24:33
[69] Suhra 90:13
[70] Rodney Stark: o. c.
[71] Forough Jahanbaksh: Islam, Democracy and Religious Modernism in Iran. Leiden: Brill 2001
[72] Abdulmejid I: en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 18-9-2021
[73] David Brion Davis: In the Image of God. New Haven/London: Yale University Press. 2001. p. 137
[74] Ahmad Alawadd Sikainga (1999): “Slavery and Muslim Jurisprudence in Morocco.” Published in: Slavery and Colonial Rule in Africa: Eds. Suzanne Miers and Martin Klein. Portland: Frank Cass.
[75] Madia Thomson: Like a Motherless Child, Researching Slavery in Morocco. Sudanic Africa (January 2005), 16, p. 91-101
[76] Slavery: Mauritania’s best kept secret: BBC News. December 13, 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4091579.stm.
[77] It was felt necessary to issue this decree again in 2015. Amal Ghazal: Slavery in Mauritania: The long road to real emancipation. arabcenterdc.org: Retrieved: 13 January 2024
[78] The NGO Anti-Slavery International cooperates with the local organization SOS Esclaves.
[79] John D. Sutter: Slavery’s last stronghold. CNN: 20 October 2014 thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/…/mauritania-slaverys-last-stronghold/ Retrieved: 22-08-2015
[80] Idem
[81] No criminal laws were passed to enforce the ban. IN 2007, under international pressure, the government passed a law to prosecute slave holders. The 2018 Global Slavery Index estimated that there were still 90.000 enslaved people in Mauritania. Slavery in Mauritania; Wikipedia.org. Retrieved: 2-4-2026.
[82] Idem
[83] Nazer, Mende; Lewis, Damien (2005). Slave: My True Story. PublicAffairs.
[84] Shaykh Muhammad Al-Munajidd, Islam QA, Fatwa 33597. Islamscope: Worldpress.com. Fatwa of the month: 27-08-2008
[85] Muhammad Al-Munajjid: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Al-Munajjid#Slavery
[86] Nahed Selim: De vrouwen van de profeet. Amsterdam: Van Gennep. 2003: p 168.
[87] Bernard Lewis, o. c.; p 111 and pp 149-156