Islam and Slavery: The Unreformed Legacy

A Sacred Institution?

While modern sensibilities rightly recoil at slavery, Islam preserves it as a divinely sanctioned institution. Unlike Christianity, which produced abolitionist movements rooted in its theology, Islam never abolished slavery—because it never could.

Why? Because the Qur’an codifies it, Muhammad practiced it, and Sharia preserves it. The result is an enduring moral stain that Islamic reformers either whitewash or ignore.

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1️⃣ The Qur’an: Legalizing Ownership of Human Beings

The Qur’an doesn’t just tolerate slavery—it institutionalizes it:

• Sexual slavery is explicitly permitted:

  • “And those who guard their private parts... except from their wives or those their right hands possess...” (23:5–6; also 4:24, 70:29–30).

• Slaves as property:

  • “...your slaves whom your right hands possess are lawful to you...” (4:3).

• Manumission is not mandated—only suggested as atonement for crimes (5:89, 58:3), reinforcing the hierarchy between free believers and human chattel.

There is no Qur’anic verse abolishing slavery. On the contrary, the institution is sanctified by divine law.

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2️⃣ Muhammad: Prophet or Slave Trader?

Muhammad was not a liberator of slaves—he was an owner, seller, and user of them.

• He owned both male and female slaves, including:

  • Maria al-Qibtiyya, a Coptic concubine gifted to him, whom he never freed.

  • Zayd ibn Haritha, whom he freed—but only after keeping him for years.

• He received slaves as war booty, distributed them to followers, and allowed their resale.

• He sanctioned and benefited from the Arab slave trade, including raids that captured and enslaved non-Muslims.

According to Sahih Muslim (kitab al-jihad), women and children taken in jihad became the “spoils of war”, and it was lawful for fighters to have sex with them—even if they were married captives.

This is not moral ambiguity. This is state-sanctioned rape under religious license.

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3️⃣ Sharia Law: Codifying the Slave System

Islamic jurisprudence across all major schools—Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, and Hanbali—institutionalized slavery:

• Slaves cannot inherit, initiate divorce, or lead prayers.

• Children born to slaves are automatically slaves, unless the owner declares otherwise.

• Female slaves can be raped without penalty, unless the owner violates her menstrual cycle or shares her with others (as outlined in classical fiqh).

• Slaves cannot testify against free Muslims in court.

Unlike the Judeo-Christian trajectory that moved toward abolition, Islamic law never moved beyond ownership—because the system was rooted in Muhammad’s precedent and Allah’s decrees.

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4️⃣ Slavery in Islamic History: Global and Enduring

The Islamic world engaged in centuries-long, multi-regional slave trades:

• The Arab slave trade predates the Atlantic one and lasted over 1,000 years.

• Estimates suggest 10 to 18 million Africans were enslaved and transported across the Sahara, Red Sea, and Indian Ocean.

• Slaves were castrated, forcibly converted, and used as soldiers (e.g., Mamluks) and concubines.

• Female slaves were the backbone of Islamic harems across the Abbasid, Ottoman, and Mughal empires.

Yet Islamic societies never developed an abolitionist movement—because the religion never provided theological grounds for one.

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5️⃣ Apologetics vs. Reality

Modern Muslim apologists argue that Islam “regulated slavery” or that Muhammad “encouraged freeing slaves”. These are half-truths at best:

• Regulating an evil is not the same as condemning it.

• Encouraging manumission for expiation of sins makes freedom a penalty, not a right.

• The precedent set by Muhammad's own actions makes true abolition theologically impossible without contradicting the Sunnah.

Worse, apologists cite Western slavery to deflect, ignoring the core issue: Christian theology undermined slavery; Islamic theology reinforced it.

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6️⃣ Islam Today: A Legacy Unreversed

• Saudi Arabia officially abolished slavery only in 1962, under Western pressure, not religious conviction.

• Mauritania criminalized slavery in 2007, yet reports indicate over 90,000 people remain enslaved.

• ISIS justified enslaving Yazidi women using Qur’an and Hadith—not as distortion, but as implementation.

• No Islamic nation has repealed or revised the Qur’anic verses on slavery.

Islam's foundational texts do not permit abolition. They require adaptation or denial—which reformers cannot justify without unraveling the religion itself.

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🧩 Final Verdict: Islam Sanctifies Slavery

The inescapable conclusion is:

Islam did not just accommodate slavery—it sanctified it.
Muhammad did not just tolerate slavery—he practiced it.
The Qur’an did not abolish slavery—it codified it.
Sharia did not evolve past slavery—it preserved it.

Until Islamic theology directly repudiates its own foundational doctrines, the stain remains permanent—not as a historical accident, but as a core component of the religion’s architecture.