@ Yunus
I just thought I'd share my views regarding slavery with you.
-1- God Detests SlaverySlavery is an age old injustice which existed eons before Islam and continued on to be an accepted practice throughout the ages until it was abolished by the new world order only 150 years ago.
Islam highly commended the freeing of slaves as an act of charity even though it didn't impose emancipation. 1400 years ago, slave emancipation was a way to atone for sins as well. I know this is no where near enough... but my own interpretation is that there was a message to be understood from this. First, I'll list a few verses as proof that emancipation was recommended as a charitable act and a venue to atone for sins.
Three examples from the Quran where emancipation of slaves was considered an act of charity: 90:11-16
But he (man) would not attempt the uphill road,
And what will make you comprehend what the uphill road is?
(It is) the setting free of a slave, or the giving of food in a day of hunger to an orphan, (or a relative), or to the poor man lying in the dust.
2:177
It is not righteousness that you turn your faces towards the East and the West, but
righteousness is this that one should believe in God and the last day and the angels and the Book and the prophets, and give away wealth out of love for Him to the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and the beggars and for
(the emancipation of) the slaves,and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate; and the performers of their promise when they make a promise, and the patient in distress and affliction and in time of conflicts-- these are they who are true (to themselves) and these are they who guard (against evil).
9:60
The alms are only for the poor and the needy, and those who collect them, and those whose hearts are to be reconciled, and to
free the slaves and the debtors, and for the cause of God, and (for) the wayfarer; a duty imposed by God. God is Knower, Wise.
Two examples from the Quran where emancipation was a venue for atonement for sins:5:89
Allah does not call you to account for what is vain in your oaths, but He calls you to account for the making of
deliberate oaths; so its expiation is the feeding of ten poor men out of the middling (food) you feed your families with, or their clothing, or
the freeing of a neck; but whosoever cannot find (means) then fasting for three days; this is the expiation of your oaths when you swear; and guard your oaths. Thus does Allah make clear to you His communications, that you may be Fateful
58:3
And (as for) those who put
away their wives by likening their backs to the backs of their mothers then would recall what they said, they
should free a captive before they touch each other; to that you are admonished (to conform); and Allah is Aware of what you do..
Islam came to people (Arabs) who held slavery very dear to their hearts. Just imagine what could have happened if the Quran outright demanded emancipation. People would have rejected Islam in its entirety. Instead, the solution for that time (1400 years ago) was to try to corrode slavery little by little until (I believe) Muslims have reached a reasonable level of maturity to understand that God detests slavery and this atonement for sins by setting slaves free was simply to send them a message they could understand when they became mature enough. Unfortunately, however, many Muslims throughout history were blinded by their self interest... and that's why I believe slavery never faded away in the Muslim world. In fact Muslims (like the Ottomons) went even further as to break the rules and enslave non-combatants
It can be understood from the Quran itself that not all matters of life has been discussed, and many questions were left unanswered, all to make life easier.
5:101
O you who believe! do not put questions about things which if declared to you may trouble you, and if you question about them when the Quran is being revealed, they shall be declared to you; God pardons this, and God is Forgiving, Forbearing.
5:102
A folk before you asked (for such disclosures) and then disbelieved therein.
5:102 explains 5:101 quite well... the 2 verses simply say: don't keep asking questions on everything, lest God reveals answers you'd dislike and reject, like others before you did. Conclusion? The Quran never claimed to have provided answers to everything, an indication of flexibility. (As far as
theology is concerned, The Quran did cover everything).
-2- Is Enslaving Non-Combatants Permissible in Islam?War booty?
War booty is a term used in international law to describe militarily useful property seized from an enemy in a time of war. Combatants are permitted to seize such property as is necessary to conduct a war, such as food, transportation, communications, weapons and fuel. The purpose of such a seizure may be to assist the combatant's own war effort, or to put the property beyond the enemy's use.
The law makes a clear distinction between war booty and common pillage of civilian property.**//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_booty**
In the old times humans were part of the War Booty. Not only anything that was used in the battelfield was fair game for booty, humans captured in the battlefield were also part of the booty.
Question: If owning slaves was allowed in Islam by purchasing them or if they were captured in the battlefield (war booty), then how come there were
female war captives? Women were not allowed to come to the battlefield back then, were they?
Ans: Some of the Arab tribes back then adopted a war strategy which involved bringing the women of the warring soldiers to the battlefield and putting them in the rear of the warring army. This strategy was meant to incite the soldiers to fight with their utmost ferocity, knowing that if they lost the battle, their women waiting in the battlefield would be captured and become slaves.
This was known as Ta'aziz (reinforcing the soldiers' desire to fight).Does this mean that non-combatants were off-limits? Yes. And the proof is clear from two places from the Quran:1- It makes no sense at all to impose taxes (Jizyah) on non-combatants when you think that they are your slaves.
9:29
قَاتِلُواْ الَّذِينَ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللّهِ وَلاَ بِالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ وَلاَ يُحَرِّمُونَ مَا حَرَّمَ اللّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَلاَ يَدِينُونَ دِينَ الْحَقِّ مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُواْ الْكِتَابَ حَتَّى يُعْطُواْ الْجِزْيَةَ عَن يَدٍ وَهُمْ صَاغِرُونَ
Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.
2- God ordered the Muslims of Medina to give refuge to Meccan women who converted to Islam and ran away from their families. In addition, if someone wanted to marry one of the female refugees, God ordered the Muslims to pay the husband whose wife deserted him, after her conversion to Islam, God ordered the Muslims to pay him back his dowry before being able to marry his wife.
So what we have here is a Muslim woman fleeing from Mecca, an enemy state of Medina and YET a Muslim man was not allowed to marry her unless he paid back the money her husband gave her as dowry!
So how can anyone imagine that Quran would allow Muslim men to enslave non-combatants when they weren't even allowed to marry Muslim women fleeing Mecca until they paid back their Meccan husbands?
60:10-11
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا جَاءكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ مُهَاجِرَاتٍ فَامْتَحِنُوهُنَّ اللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِإِيمَانِهِنَّ فَإِنْ عَلِمْتُمُوهُنَّ مُؤْمِنَاتٍ فَلَا تَرْجِعُوهُنَّ إِلَى الْكُفَّارِ لَا هُنَّ حِلٌّ لَّهُمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحِلُّونَ لَهُنَّ وَآتُوهُم مَّا أَنفَقُوا وَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ أَن تَنكِحُوهُنَّ إِذَا آتَيْتُمُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ وَلَا تُمْسِكُوا بِعِصَمِ الْكَوَافِرِ وَاسْأَلُوا مَا أَنفَقْتُمْ وَلْيَسْأَلُوا مَا أَنفَقُوا ذَلِكُمْ حُكْمُ اللَّهِ يَحْكُمُ بَيْنَكُمْ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ ?10? وَإِن فَاتَكُمْ شَيْءٌ مِّنْ أَزْوَاجِكُمْ إِلَى الْكُفَّارِ فَعَاقَبْتُمْ فَآتُوا الَّذِينَ ذَهَبَتْ أَزْوَاجُهُم مِّثْلَ مَا أَنفَقُوا وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ الَّذِي أَنتُم بِهِ مُؤْمِنُونَ ?11?
O you who believe! when believing women come to you flying, then examine them; Allah knows best their faith; then if you find them to be believing women, do not send them back to the unbelievers, neither are these (women) lawful for them, nor are those (men) lawful for them, and give them what they have spent; and no blame attaches to you in marrying them when you give them their dowries; and hold not to the ties of marriage of unbelieving women, and ask for what you have spent, and kt them ask for what they have spent. That is Allah's judgment; He judges between you, and Allah is Knowing, Wise. And if anything (out of the dowries) of your wives has passed away from you to the unbelievers, then your turn comes, give to those whose wives have gone away the like of what they have spent, and be careful of (your duty to) Allah in Whom you believe.
3- History books, written by Sunni historians, contain contradictory accounts. Some accounts support the notion that non-combatants are off limits and some imply that non-comatants are fair game (contradicting other accounts and the Quran itself).
One MAJOR Sunni account which reinforces the notin that non-combatants are off limits, in agreement with the Quran, is the Covenant of Umar after conquering Jerusalem:
In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Beneficent. This is what the slave of Allah, Umar b.Al-Khattab, the Amir of the believers, has offered the people of Illyaa? of security granting them Amaan (protection) for their selves, their money, their churches, their children, their lowly and their innocent, and the remainder of their people. Their churches are not to be taken, nor are they to be destroyed, nor are they to be degraded or belittled, neither are their crosses or their money, and they are not to be forced to change their religion, nor is any one of them to be harmed. No Jews are to live with them in Illyaa? and it is required of the people of Illyaa? to pay the Jizya, like the people of the cities. It is also required of them to remove the Romans from the land; and whoever amongst the people of Illyaa? that wishes to depart with their selves and their money with the Romans, leaving their trading goods and children behind, then their selves, their trading goods and their children are secure until they reach their destination.
But the Jews were later allowed in by Umar (breaking an age old Roman/Bezyntine banning)
**mideastweb.org/covenantofomar.htm**
Bottom line: Non-combatants are off-limits in Islam.
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To summarize:1- The Quran made freeing slaves a charitable act and part of where ALMS should be spent. PLUS freeing slaves is a major venue to atone for sins, some as common as taking an oath in vain. This system should have eaten away at slavery little by little. [there are Hadiths forcing slave owners to allow their slaves to earn money to free themselves, other Hadiths saying that freeing them would keep the Hell fire forbidden on the bodies of men who free slaves, etc].
2- The Quran described slave emancipation as a difficult uphill climb, hinting at how difficult it is for man to abolish slavery.
3- The Quran in PLAIN clear words told Muslims to not keep asking too many questions lest the proper ruling regarding them be revealed and they'd find it so hard to accept them and then reject them! What does this mean? Did God send down all the *proper* rules pertaining to how to live this life? Ans: NO! We humans can't cope with God's standards. God let us practice things that if we asked Him about them, He would have made them forbidden!
4- Unlike wine which was forbidden in stages, slavery was too difficult to forbid even in stages. God knows His slaves and He knew they couldn't have been able to accept abolishing slavery even in stages. Instead, Islam installed a unique system of freeing slaves meant to erradicate slavery little by little. Muslims, however, have always cared for their own self interest.. In other words, the failure of the application of this first system of slave emancipation is OUR failure, not God's!
I don't know if you remember this, but it is reported in Islamic history that at some point (in the Golden Age), people were so rich they COULD NOT find anyone who would accept ALMS!!! But what about the SLAVES?!!! Aren't they part of the people who DESERVE to receive ALMS for their emancipation? Now if this story is true, that people were so rich as to not find anyone who would accept ALMS, then weren't those people SO EVIL as to not apply God's rules and spend these ALMS in freeing slaves? If they heeded God's words, then slavery would have been dead at one point in Islamic history (and for the first time in human history)... people would have tasted, for the first time, the freedom that comes along with freeing the slaves in masses.The Quran implanted an emancipation system meant to end slavery seemlessly. If *at least* ALMS were spent in freeing salves, this goal would have been reached at least at one point in Islamic history.
Topic: Hello people