Exposing Islam

📜 Still Legal in Theory: How Modern Fatwas Affirm Islamic Concubinage

🟥 The Question

How do modern Islamic scholars interpret verses like:

Qur’an 4:24 – "...except those whom your right hands possess..."
Qur’an 33:50 – "We have made lawful to you... those whom your right hand possesses..."

Do they declare these rulings obsolete, immoral, or historically conditioned?

No. The majority of traditionalist scholars and fatwa bodies do not revoke these rulings. They may discourage implementation in practice, but they do not theologically abolish the doctrine of sex slavery.

🧩 Modern Fatwas That Still Affirm Concubinage

🔹 1. Bin Baz (Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, d. 1999)

“Islam permits sexual relations with a slave woman whom a man owns… This is part of the blessings of jihad.”
— Fatwa compilation of Shaykh Ibn Baz

Bin Baz — former Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia — affirmed the legality of owning and having intercourse with slave women, citing Qur’an and hadiths as irrefutable proofs. He called it “a mercy and a concession” from Allah.

🔹 2. Salih al-Fawzan (Senior Saudi Cleric, Council of Senior Scholars)

“Slavery is part of Islam. Slavery is part of jihad… The slave market is legal. Nobody can deny that.”
— Lecture on al-Muntaqa min Fatawa al-Fawzan, 2003

Al-Fawzan confirmed that concubinage is a part of permanent Islamic law (shar‘ mutlaq), not abrogated. He attacked Muslim liberals who claim slavery was abolished in Islam as ignorant of fiqh.

🔹 3. The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta (Saudi Arabia)

When asked about sex with a concubine, their official fatwa response was:

“It is permissible to have intercourse with a female slave whom one owns… This is indicated in the Qur’an and Sunnah, and there is consensus on this.”
— Fatwa No. 21413, 1421 AH (2000 CE)

The fatwa emphasizes that this is a valid form of sexual relation without marriage. The only restriction is that the woman must not be pregnant by another man.

🔹 4. Azhar-trained scholars in Egypt

A 2006 debate on Egyptian TV (Dream TV) featured prominent Azhar clerics refusing to say sex with slave girls is impermissible. One declared:

“If there is jihad and slaves are taken, then it is lawful. The ruling exists in the Qur’an.”

They acknowledged that while slavery is no longer practiced, it remains legally sanctioned in the sharia framework and would apply if the context returned.

📚 Scriptural and Juristic Basis

These fatwas are not “extremist” or aberrant. They cite the exact same verses and traditions found in all four Sunni schools of law:

Source	Content
Qur’an 4:24	Permission for sex with captive women
Qur’an 33:50	Special license to the Prophet
Sahih Muslim 1438a	Companions had sex with captives “while their husbands were polytheists”
Tafsir al-Tabari	Affirms permissibility of concubinage
Ibn Qudamah, al-Mughni	Legal manuals codify the process of ownership, sex, and manumission

All agree: no marriage contract is required with a slave woman, and no consent is needed.

🧨 Why This Is a Crisis for Modern Islam

Modern Muslim reformers are trapped in a contradiction:

🔁 Islam is a timeless, perfect system.
🔁 Islam permitted concubinage, a form of rape.
❌ Therefore, Islam either isn’t perfect, or rape is permissible.

But to abolish this doctrine, scholars would have to:

Reject Qur’anic verses.
Accuse Muhammad and his Companions of immoral behavior.
Break the consensus (ijma‘) of the classical jurists.

Most refuse to take that step.

Instead, they say:

“It was appropriate for that time.”
“The spirit of Islam promotes emancipation.”
“Slavery was phased out gradually.”

But these are moral evasions, not legal reforms. Sharia has no mechanism to abolish divine rulings. That’s why no school of Islamic law has ever declared Qur’an 4:24 invalid — and why fatwas continue to affirm its applicability in theory.

🕳 What About Abrogation or Reform?

Attempts to claim Islam “abolished” slavery rely on:

No clear abrogating verse — there is no verse in the Qur’an that cancels 4:24 or 33:50.
Muhammad’s own example — he owned slave women and had sex with them (e.g., Mariyah the Copt).
Post-Prophetic consensus — Islamic empires practiced and regulated slavery for over a millennium.

Thus, reformers can moralize but not legally annul these rulings without undermining Islam itself.

⛓ Legacy in Islamist Extremism

As shown in the previous post, groups like ISIS and Boko Haram cite these modern fatwas and medieval rulings to justify:

Capturing women as sabaya (sex captives).
Selling them or marrying them off.
Justifying intercourse without consent.

They argue — quite accurately — that they are reviving the sharia that mainstream clerics refuse to renounce in law.

🔚 Conclusion: The Doctrine Still Stands

Islamic slavery and concubinage may be dormant in practice, but they are alive in doctrine.

Until Islamic authorities openly declare Qur’an 4:24 and 33:50 morally and legally invalid, the door remains open to the rape-by-revelation principle enshrined in Islam’s foundational texts.

Modern fatwas show the problem is not extremism.

It’s orthodoxy.