freediver wrote on Apr 28
th, 2012 at 11:52am:
So her only options are sexual servitude or chastity?
Islam tells people to free slaves to to the point where slavery became non-existent in most of the Muslim world many centuries ago.
"...
it is righteousness to believe in God and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers;
to spend of your wealth, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and
for the ransom of slaves...
Such are the people of truth, the God-fearing."
[Noble Quran, al-Baqarah, v.177]
"The Prophet said, "Give food to the hungry, pay a visit to the sick and release (set free) the one in captivity (by paying his ransom)."
[Bukhari]
Prophet Muhammed, personally freed dozens of enslaved people, and also on many occasions ordered that conquered people not be taken into slavery despite enslavement of conquered peoples being a common practice in ancient society.
"'Abdullah b. 'Umar reported that 'Umar b. Khattab asked the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) as he was at ji'rana (a town near Mecca) on his way back from Ta'if: Messenger of Allah, I had taken a vow during the days of Ignorance that I would observe I'tikaf for one day in the Sacred Mosque. So what is your opinion? He said: Go and observe I'tikaf for a day. And Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) gave him a slave girl out of the one-fifth (of the spoils of war meant for the Holy Prophet). And when Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) set the war prisoners free. 'Umar b. Khattab heard their voice as they were saying: Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) has set us free. He (Hadrat 'Umar) said: What is this? They said: Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) has set free the prisoners of war (which had fallen to the lot of people). Thereupon he (Hadrat 'Umar) said: Abdullah, go to that slave-girl and set her free.
[Saheeh al-Muslim]
Let those who find not the wherewithal for marriage keep themselves chaste, until God gives them means out of His grace. And if any of your slaves ask for a deed in writing (to enable them to earn their freedom for a certain sum), give them such a deed if ye know any good in them: yea, give them something yourselves out of the means which God has given to you.
[Noble Quran, an-Noor, v.33]
"Zadhan reported that Ibn Umar called his slave and he found the marks (of beating) upon his back. He said to him: I have caused you pain. He said: No. But he (Ibn Umar) said: You are free. He then took hold of something from the earth and said: There is no reward for me even to the weight equal to it. I heard Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: He who beats a slave without cognizable offence of his or slaps him, then expiation for it is that he should set him free.
[Muslim]
Prophet Muhammed's wives also spent their wealth on freeing dozens of slaves.
The first Caliph of the Islamic state, Abu Bakr personally also freed dozens of slaves.
During the Caliphate of the second Calpih, Umar, the Islamic state conquered much of the known world which prompted Umar to order the freeing of thousands of conquered peoples who might otherwise become slaves.
Uthman, the third Caliph of the Islamic state, made a habit of freeing a slave every Friday, and would free slaves when he saw them praying to God.
Islam teaches people not to harm others:
“Whoever causes harm to others subjects himself to harm caused by God.”
[Ibn Majah; Sunan Abu Dawood]
Islam also encourages people to find spouses for slaves so that tey can satisfy their own desires in God-fearing manner.
A slave could become a concubine of her master, or marry someone else, or if remain chaste if she so desired.
Islam teaches people that if they own slaves, then they should treat them well:
Jabir ibn 'Abdullah said, "The Prophet (God bless him and grant him peace) advised that slaves should be well-treated. He said, 'Feed them from what you eat and clothe them from what you wear. Do not punish what God has created.' "
[Al-Adab al-Mufrad Al-Bukhari]
The Non-Muslim Perspective:
Quote:On the attitude of Muslim master with his slaves, Will Durant says,
"...he handled them with a genial humanity that made their lot no worse - perhaps better, as more secure - than that of a factory worker in nineteenth-century Europe."
Source: Hurgronje C., Mohammedanism, (N.Y., 1916), p. 128 as quoted by W. Durant, The Story of Civilization, vol. IV (N.Y., 1950), p. 209.
Quote:At the end of the 18th century, Mouradgea d'Ohsson (a main source of information for the Western writers on the Ottoman empire) declared:
"There is perhaps no nation where the captives, the slaves, the very toilers in the galleys are better provided for or treated with more kindness than among the Muhammedans."
Source: As quoted in The Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol.I, p. 35.
Quote:P. L Riviere writes:
"A master was enjoined to make his slave share the bounties he received from God. It must be recognised that, in this respect, the Islamic teaching acknowledged such a respect for human personality and showed a sense of equality which is searched for in vain in ancient civilization"
Source: Riviere P.L., Revue Bleaue (June 1939).
Quote:Napoleon Bonaparte is recorded as saying about the condition of slaves in Muslim countries:
"The slave inherits his master's property and marries his daughter. The majority of the Pashas had been slaves. Many of the grand viziers, all the Mamelukes, Ali Ben Mourad Beg, had been slaves. They began their lives by performing the most menial services in the houses of their masters and were subsequently raised in status for their merit or by favour. In the West, on the contrary, the slave has always been below the position of the domestic servants; he occupies the lowest rug. The Romans emancipated their slaves, but the emancipated were never considered as equal to the free-born. The ideas of the East and West are so different that it took a long time to make the Egyptians understand that all the army was not composed of slaves belonging to the Sultan al-Kabir."
Source: Cherfils, Bonaparte et l'Islam (Paris, 1914)
Quote:Annemarie Schimmel writes:
"The entire history of Islam proves that slaves could occupy any office, and many former military slaves, usually recruited from among the Central Asian Turks, became military leaders and often even rulers as in eastern Iran, India (the Slave Dynasty of Delhi), and medieval Egypt (the Mamluks). “
Source: "Islam: An Introduction", p. 67
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