Slavery, Captivity and Female Slaves in Islam "A famous Dialogue with an Egyptian Christian Girl

 

She said: Good evening.

I said: Welcome, how are you?

 

She said: We thank the Lord.

I said: How are you reading about Islam ?

 

She said: Oh, you thought I found something very difficult in Islam ?

I said: What is it?

 

She said: Captivity, right hand possession, and slaves. What are you doing? What do slaves mean? We are free. What does right hand possession mean? You can be bought and sold. What does war spoils mean?

I said: Calm down a bit and I will explain?

 

She said: Explain what? Is there a religion that orders what you do?

I said: Will you listen or do you need a lot of time for criticism only?

 

She said: Go ahead, let me see what you'll say.

I said: Let's get into the subject, it's better than talking without evidence?

 

She said: Okay.

I said: First , Islam came and the earth was filled with disbelief, injustice and tyranny, and slaves filled the earth and the buying and selling of people existed, until this trade had markets for buying and selling and prices and became an entity with an economy on the level of the ancient world. Then Islam came, and as we are accustomed to, it is a realistic religion that does not come with the impossibilities of the mind, but rather comes with the challenges of the mind. Islam treated this problem through gradual solutions that do not clash with the economy based on it and with most people, especially those whose livelihoods are based on what Islam prohibits . This example was clear in the prohibition of alcohol.

 

She said: Why does Islam even have slaves? And after that you tell me to solve the problem? Hahahahaha!!

I said: Don't laugh and mock, be patient and you will see. You didn't understand what I said. I said that the issue dates back centuries before Islam .

 

She said: I really feel sorry for you. Is the matter really that difficult?

I said: God is our helper, nothing is difficult, and you will see, but can you let me finish?

 

She said: Go ahead.

I said: Islam did not legislate slaves, captives and right hand possession from the beginning, but this is a system from the ancient world and from the Christians and Jews, meaning from you? Despite that, we did not see a solution to the issue with you and you left it, but rather you participated in human trafficking, captivity and slavery. The Roman and Persian states are not far from us. When Islam appeared , there were two great powers, the Persians and the Romans ( Christians ), and they built their economies on the slave trade.

If you have a solution for slavery from the Torah and the Bible or even the words of the early or late Church Fathers, please tell me?

 

She said: I don't know, but who said that we have slaves and captivity or that we allowed it? Are you slandering Christianity?

I said: We are used to talking with references, and now these texts are from your book?

Slavery was the result of Noah’s prayer against his son Canaan, so imagine this is your book!!

Genesis 9:25 And he said, “Cursed be Canaan! He shall be a servant of servants to his brothers.”

These concubines and slaves were in the era of the Prophet of God Abraham and with him personally, as your book mentions.

Genesis 25:6 And to the sons of the concubines whom Abraham had, while he was still alive, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away eastward from his son Isaac, to the eastern country.

Indeed, the Book of Exodus places unfair rules and laws in some places on slaves. This slave serves for six years, and when he leaves, he does not take his wife, if his master is his wife, or his children. Imagine, if he wanted his wife and children, he would have to let his master pierce his ear with a drill and become a servant for life!!

Exodus 21:1 “And these are the ordinances which shall be set before them:

Exodus 21:2 If you buy a Hebrew slave, he will serve for six years, and in the seventh he will go out free for nothing.

Exodus 21:3 If he goes in alone, he shall go out alone: ​​if he has a wife, his wife shall go out with him.

Exodus 21:4 If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s.

He goes out alone.

Exodus 12:5 But if the servant says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children,’ I will not go out free.

Exodus 21:6 Then his master shall bring him to God, and bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him forever.

These are the teachings of the Torah, which contain a commandment specific to male and female slaves!

Exodus 20:17 : You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant , nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.

Concubines and slaves of David

2Sa 20:3 And David came to his house at Jerusalem: and the king took the ten concubines, whom he had left to keep the house .

This is Solomon

It is mentioned in the First Book of Kings about Solomon

He married 700 women and had 300 concubines. Imagine your attack on the best of mankind, Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, because he married nine women, and your attack on the right hand of possession in Islam. Look with me, have we brought you anything new?

1Ki 11:3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned aside,

His heart.

In the New Testament, Christ gave more than one example of the kingdom of heaven and earth with the master and the slaves.

This is stated in Matthew 18:31 and Matthew 22:10.

The statement came that there were slaves and concubines during the days of the crucifixion story.

John 18:18 And the servants and the officers were standing there, having made a fire of coals, for it was cold, and they were warming themselves: and Peter was standing with them, and warming himself.

 

She said: Well, since you have a solution to the issue and we have not, why do you take captives and slaves in wars and then try to free them after taking them?

I said: Why do you think the advanced countries now take prisoners of war?

 

She said: The matter is normal because this is war, they are not going out for tourism.

I said: Very nice.

 

She said: What is so beautiful?

I said: What you're saying is that these are wars, meaning that this is not nonsense, this is war?

 

She said: Of course.

I said: And so were the wars at the time of the emergence of Islam and even before the emergence of Islam. The victor would take the enemy’s male warriors as slaves and the women as captives.

 

She said: Where did you say this? Who said it? Do you have a reference or are you just saying things?

I said: No, of course there are references and evidence from history, but can I bring you from your book that you believe in?

 

She said: Evidence that wars involved captivity and slaves. Are you talking about something new today?

I said: There is nothing new and nothing needed, but you take the words of the priests and fathers as granted, and this is the evidence:

It came in the book of Deuteronomy

Under the title of marriage to a captive woman, Chapter 21:10 to 14

And look at this direct order to take captives and choose a beautiful woman and also cut her hair and nails, are these orders not an insult to women and you say Islam is an action and Islam...

 

Deuteronomy 21:10 “When you go out to fight against your enemies, and the LORD your God delivers them into your hand, and you take some of them captive, ( 11 ) and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you cleave to her and take her as your wife, ( 12 ) then when you bring her into your house, she shall shave her head and trim her nails, ( 13 ) and she shall strip the garments of her captivity from her, and she shall remain in your house and mourn for her father and mother for a full month; after that you may go in to her and take her as your wife. (14) But if you do not delight in her, then you shall let her go for herself; you shall not sell her for money, nor make her a slave, because you have humbled her.

What do you think?

 

She said: Shall I go back to travel and make sure?

I said: Would I lie to you?

 

She said: Not like that, but it might have another meaning.

I said: The meaning is clear and explicit.

 

She said: Leave us alone and let us stick to you. Why don't you change the system of wars?

I said: Any country starts small and then grows, and our nation was established on the same laws of God in the universe, and this was the law of wars at that time, and no country at its beginning will be able to change the world order all at once.

 

She said: Was it possible that during wars you did not take captives or slaves?

I said: The Islamic state was in its infancy, and may God have mercy on those who said that if the Islamic nation had not taken captives and slaves in its infancy, it would have been the mount of nations.

 

She said: What do you mean? I don't understand.

I said: That means if the Muslims enter into a war with another country, and if this country wins the war against the Muslims, it will take slaves and concubines from them, and when the Muslims defeat it, according to your request, they will not take anything from them and will leave the slaves and concubines, would that behavior not be a reason for the countries to dare to fight the Muslims, because quite simply, they will not lose anything, so they fight the Muslims and they will have a lot of peace of mind.

 

She said: But there are many things that you do wrong in this matter?

I said: Like what?

 

She said: Your treatment of slaves , captives and female slaves. Did you treat them very badly?

I said: Who said that?

 

She said: What I know, for example, is that a master can have intercourse with his right hand possession like a wife, and is that something difficult?

I said: The issue of cohabitation with the right hand possession, and the discussion of it comes in two issues:

First: The subject was taken for granted in your book, and I previously brought you evidence that there were sons of the prophets from captivity, such as Abraham, peace be upon him, as in your book.

As for the second issue: God Almighty has the utmost wisdom in the laws that He has legislated for His servants. Imagine yourself in this era and with the existence of slaves and captives, if God forbade the master from associating with the female slave and captives, all people would fall into what is forbidden and everyone would be far from the religion of God, and this would be an injustice to them and to the captives.

 

She said: Why?

I said: As for the gentleman, imagine with me that the man entered his house. It is natural for him to enter his house at any time he wants, right?

 

She said: Of course this is his house.

I said: He was entering his house or one of his rooms, and it happened that one of the slave girls was sleeping, and she was half-naked and very beautiful. If he wanted to have sex with her, would anyone come to stop him? Of course not, he was in his house. Even if he beat her, the neighbors would say she must have done something wrong. And imagine if she refused, what the master could do to her to punish her? He could prevent her from eating, drinking, or going out, and she would not be able to do anything about it.

 

She said: I mean, with you, but what if she refuses to have sex with you?

I said: Before I answer this question, can I continue with the rest of the topic?

 

She said: Would you please?

I said: We should not ignore an important matter, which is that this slave girl has no husband and needs to satisfy her instinct and her need for a man. Therefore, if God forbade a man to have intercourse with his slave girl as he does with his wife, then that would be one of the things that would be unjust to both parties and to society, and the slave girl would turn to adultery.

And we will not do like you?

 

She said: What is our example?

I said: You do not consider the interests of people, and this is in your book?

 

She said: Explain more?

I said: The Prophet David, “as you believe, not us,” committed adultery with the leader’s wife, and yet he imprisoned ten of the captives and did not approach them, and they remained virgins until death. So where is the right of these ten to enjoy life and the instinct that God Almighty gave them?

 

She said: Where is your evidence?

I said: This is it:

2Sa 20:3 And David came to his house at Jerusalem. And the king took the ten concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in custody, and fed them, but went not in unto them; but they were shut up in a life of celibacy until the day of their death.

As for your question, if the nation refused, I will mention to you a fatwa on the Islam Question and Answer website in the chapter on slavery.

The Sheikh asked about the site said:

"However, he is not permitted to have intercourse with her until she is able to do so."

 

She said: Another important question. Our father (.....) said that you still trade in women?

I said: This is a slander against us and a distortion of the image of Muslims that came to you from the Islam Q&A website.

This fatwa is in response to a question from someone who wanted to buy a woman, and it contains a hadith of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, prohibiting the buying and selling of free men and women:

It is not permissible to sell a free woman, whether she is Muslim or non-Muslim, because of what was narrated by al-Bukhaari (2227 ) on the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) on the authority of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) who said: “Allah said: ‘There are three with whom I will be the opponent on the Day of Resurrection: a man who made a covenant in My name then betrayed it; a man who sold a free man and consumed his price ; and a man who hired a worker, took full advantage of him but did not give him his wages .’”

 

She said: But the matter should not have been left to anyone to do whatever they want?

I said: The issue in Islam is chaotic, but Islam has set the issue straight and established rules for it until it is finished through emancipation, which Islam has increased . I will give you a hadith of our Messenger, may God bless him and grant him peace, about when a man may have intercourse with his right hand slave.

On the authority of Abu Saeed Al-Khudri, who said: The Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, said - regarding the captives of Awtas - “Do not have intercourse with a pregnant woman until she gives birth, and do not have intercourse with a non-pregnant woman until she menstruates .” Narrated by Abu Dawud (2157). The hadith was authenticated by Sheikh Al-Albani in “Irwa’ Al-Ghaleel ” (187).

 

She said: Can I ask another question?

I said: Go ahead.

 

She said: Let us assume that the slave girl got married. How do the husband and master have the right to cohabit?

I said: Whoever said that, we return to the aforementioned website, which quoted from a knowledgeable scholar, and this quote is...

Ibn Qudamah said in Al-Mughni:

If he marries his female slave, it is forbidden for him to enjoy her. He said: As for the prohibition of enjoying her, there is no doubt or disagreement about it, because she has become permissible for the husband, and a woman is not permissible for two men.

 

She said: But it is well known among you that you treat slaves and concubines badly?

I said: These are slanders against us, and not every individual action is attributed to the teachings of Islam. Whoever makes a mistake, his mistake is his own, not Islam’s.

I will mention to you examples of urging the treatment of slaves and female slaves from the Qur’an and Sunnah, and I remind you that there is never a verse or hadith in the Qur’an or Sunnah that commands slavery and approves of it, and I challenge anyone to come up with that.

And remember the beginning of the noble verse that commands Muslims to feed food to the captive, which is the only form of slavery in Islam according to the time:

And they give food, in spite of their love for it, to the poor, the orphan, and the captive. (Al-Insan 8)

This is its interpretation from the book of easy interpretation

They feed the poor, who are unable to earn a living and do not own any of the worldly possessions, a child whose father has died and who has no money, and a prisoner taken captive in war from among the polytheists and others.

 

She said: No, I am waiting for the issue. You did not treat slaves and servants and give them their rights until after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the French Revolution?

I said: Of course, your words are rejected in form and content, because the French Revolution was...

The Declaration of Human Rights was not issued until August 26 , 1789 AD .

The United Nations Charter on Human Rights was issued in

On 10/12/1948​​​

But what came to you is in the seventh century AD, and I also remind you that the occupation of countries and the plundering of their resources in the modern era began after the French Revolution and continued after the United Nations Charter and is still happening to this day by the major Christian countries, and here are Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine as living evidence.

Indeed, Christian and secular world historians have spoken about slavery, which was practiced by Christians in Europe and America. Let us not forget that America, according to some estimates, took 62 million Africans as slaves.

 

She said: Can you finish?

I said: Complete what Islam brought and commanded in this regard.

First, feeding and clothing

- Look at what the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) commanded and notice the beginning of his words (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): They are your brothers, and the end of the hadith: He helps him in his work: (They are your brothers. Allah has placed them under your control. So whoever Allah has placed his brother under his control, let him feed him from what he eats, and let him clothe him from what he wears, and let him not burden him with work that is beyond his ability. But if he burdens him with what is beyond his ability, let him help him with it .) Narrated by Al-Bukhari (6050 ).

Indeed, the last will of our Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, while he was on his deathbed was : “Prayer and what your right hands possess, prayer and what your right hands possess.” He kept repeating it until his tongue could not utter it . Narrated by Ahmad and al-Nasa’i. This is specific to female slaves. Look at the greatness of this religion.

The Prophet , may God bless him and grant him peace, said: “A man had a female slave and fed her well, then educated her well, then freed her and married her, and he will have two rewards.” Narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim .

 

He said, may God bless him and grant him peace, in his sermon during the Farewell Pilgrimage:

{ There is no superiority for an Arab over a non-Arab, nor for a non-Arab over an Arab, nor for a red man over a black man, nor for a black man over a red man, except by piety.} (Ahmad)

Islam even made the punishment for anyone who beats his male or female slave to be his freedom.

She said: No, that's not possible?

The Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, said : “Whoever slaps or beats his slave, his expiation is to free him .” Narrated by Muslim (1657 ).

There is a very important thing I want to tell you, which is that Islam came with a new principle to address slavery, which is the contract of marriage.

 

She said: What do you mean?

I said: This means that slaves are allowed to negotiate with their masters over a sum of money, and the slave, male or female, collects the money from his or her work or from donations and pays the agreed-upon sum, and with this agreement the slave becomes free.

God Almighty said: ( And those who seek a contract from among those whom your right hands possess - make a contract with them if you know there is good in them and give them from the wealth of God which He has given you .) An-Nur/33

In order not to bore you with too much, I will mention some examples of the Prophet’s companions in their treatment of slaves:

Omar bin Al-Khattab, may God be pleased with him, passed by one day and saw the slaves standing and not eating with their masters. He became angry and said to their masters: What is wrong with people who monopolize their servants? Then he called the servants and they ate with them.

It was narrated that Uthman ibn Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) pinched the ear of one of his slaves for a sin he had committed, and then he said to him: Go forward and pinch my ear. The slave refused, so he insisted. He began to pinch lightly, and the slave said to him : Pinch well, for I cannot bear the punishment of the Day of Resurrection. The slave said: And so, my master: I also fear the day that you fear .

When Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf (may Allah be pleased with him) walked among his slaves, none of them could distinguish him - because he did not go ahead of them, and he did not wear anything but their clothing .

 

A man entered upon Salman (may Allah be pleased with him) and found him kneading dough - and he was a prince - so he said to him: O Abu Abdullah, what is this?! He said: We sent the servant on some business, and we did not want to combine two jobs with him.

She said: Why do we consider these actions to be part of Islamic law? Could they be the actions of individuals?

I said: No, of course not. This is the origin of Islam. I will quote to you some verses of the Qur’an that do not differentiate between people on the basis of slavery.

God Almighty said in the constitution of Muslims, the Holy Quran:

{ O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.} (Surat Al-Hujurat, verse 13).

And God Almighty said in another verse in which God made all people equal:

{ O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And fear Allah, through whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Indeed, Allah is ever, over you, an Observer. } An-Nisa, verse 1

 

She said: Our religion has something like that.

I said: Honestly, no.

 

She said: Don't accuse our religion?

I said: From your own mouth I condemn you, O servant... I will mention a story in your book that talks about captivity, and not just captivity, but killing the captives who had previously been married and leaving only the virgins.

 

She said: Where?

I said: The Book of Numbers, listen.

This is Moses ordering his soldiers to kill married women and take the virgin girls. Why do you leave the virgin and burn the cities?

Num 31:1 And the LORD commanded Moses,

Num 31:9 And the children of Israel took captive the women of Midian, and their little ones, and plundered all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods.

Num 31:10 And they burned all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their strongholds with fire.

Num 31:11 And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of man and of beast.

Num 31:15 And Moses said to them, “Have you saved all the females alive?

Num 31:16 These were the cause of the children of Israel, according to the word of Balaam, to transgress against the LORD in the matter of Peor: and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.

Num 31:17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and every woman who has known a man by lying with him, kill her.

Num 31:18 But all the children of women who have not known lying with a male, you shall keep alive for yourselves.

Num 31:19 But you shall camp outside the camp seven days, and purify yourselves, both you and your captives, both on the third day and on the seventh day, both of you who have killed any person, and who have touched any slain person.

 

 

She said: Didn't I tell you that these are personal actions?

I said: No, of course not. Listen to the same book, which tells you that this is according to the law and the command of the Lord:

Num 31:21 And Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to war, “This is the statute of the law which the LORD commanded Moses.

Do you know how many girls were taken by the soldiers of Prophet Moses?

Num 31:35 And of the souls of men, of the women who had not known how to lie with a man, all the souls were thirty-two thousand.

Now it's the turn of a witness from her family

The scientist Adam Metz (1869-1917) says:

Who graduated from German universities, and was appointed professor of Semitic languages ​​at the University of Basel in Switzerland.

“It has been customary since the early days of Islam that slaves should not be called slaves, but rather a slave boy and a female slave girl; this has been attributed - as have many others - to the command of the Prophet [peace and blessings of God be upon him]. It was from piety and honor of the soul that a man should not beat his slave, and it is narrated from the Prophet [peace and blessings of God be upon him] that he said: “The worst of people is he who eats alone, withholds his provisions, and beats his slave.” This noble feeling was expressed by Abu al-Layth al-Samarqandi (died 387 AH - 997 AD) in his narration of this hadith. In the fourth century AH, some people took the words of God Almighty: {The believers are but brothers} [Al-Hujurat 10] as a criticism that they would direct at someone who beats his slave.”

[1]

“In Islam , there was a principle in the interest of slaves, and that was that each of them could buy his freedom by paying a certain amount of money, and the slave or female slave had the right to work independently in the work he wanted.. Likewise, it was from righteousness and praiseworthy customs for a person to recommend before his death the emancipation of some of the slaves he owned” (2).

These words are from his book Islamic Civilization in the Fourth Century AH 1 - Part 1 / 288

2- Part 1/290

And he came to you with the words of another witness

He is Abdullah Kolyam, quoted from an article

_Mr. Joseph Thompson, the famous English traveler, The Times, November 14, 1887.

“[A number of Western writers have claimed] that Islam in East Africa is based on the slave trade and all means of cruelty and degradation. Such stories are completely devoid of truth, cannot be believed or imagined to have happened, and I prove without hesitation and say from the breadth of my experience and knowledge of East and Central Africa, something that [those writers] cannot come up with: that if slave trading existed in these regions, it was only because Islam did not enter them, and the proof of that is because one of the characteristics of Islam is the permanent abolition of slave trading.”

As Gustave Le Bon says in “The Civilization of the Arabs” (pp. 459-460):

“What I see as true is that slavery among Muslims is better than it is among others, and that the condition of slaves in the East is better than the condition of servants in Europe, and that slaves in the East are part of the family... and that the clients who desire liberation obtain it by expressing their desire... and despite this they do not resort to using this right.” End quote .

.....

Some confessions made by agents of the West and Christianity about slavery

In the Dictionary of the Holy Bible by Dr. George Youssef, it is stated : “ Christianity did not object to slavery from its political or economic aspects, nor did it incite believers to oppose their generation in their morals regarding slavery , nor even discuss it, nor did it say anything against the rights of slave owners, nor did it move slaves to seek independence, nor did it research the harms of slavery, nor its cruelty, nor did it order the immediate release of slaves, and by consensus it did not change the legal relationship between master and slave in any way, but on the contrary, it established the rights and duties of each of the two parties. ”

.....

The Encyclopedia Britannica acknowledges what modern European-American Christian people were doing in bringing about slavery.

The Encyclopedia Britannica (2/779) under the article Slavery says: “ The hunting of slaves from their villages surrounded by jungles was done by lighting fires in the straw from which the pens surrounding the village were made, so that when the villagers fled into the open, the English would hunt them down using the means they had prepared for them .”

She said: I am very late today, thank you and God willing I will get you an answer to the topic if possible.

I said: Thank God, may our Lord guide you to what He loves and is pleased with.

This is the link to the Islam Question and Answer website about slavery.

http://islamqa.info/ar/cat/362