When the last Messenger began his ministry he saw that the slaves were an important aspect of the society. But for this flag bearer of human equality this ignominy to humanity was intolerable. He declared that it is not legal for a man to consider another man his property. All men are human beings and therefore equal. This is against human honor and dignity that man should be considered a commodity or cattle. Freedom is the birth right of man. In a human society slavery should come to an end.

At that time the tradition in the world was that the prisoners of war were made slaves and after that their children were considered born slaves. The Quran closed this fountain of slavery. It said that no prisoner of war would be made slave. They would be released either by taking ransom or in good faith.

wa immaa fidaaa-an hattaa taza-al-harbu awzaarahaa.

Now when you meet in battle your opponents then it is smiting of the necks until you have routed them; then bind fast the bonds; then either give them a free dismissal afterwards or exact a ransom. (47/4)

The prisoners of war till their release remained State guests. After the closure of the fountain the river of slavery would have dried up on its own. But some time was required for this drying up process. The river already had some water and an outlet for it had to be made. At that time slaves were a common feature of almost every Arab house. Slaves worked on their agricultural lands and slave girls did household chores. In this way they had become an integral part of their social and economic life. By freeing them in one stroke would have created complete disorder and chaos in the Arab society. Not only the masters but slaves also would have found themselves in difficulties. Besides, the Muslims themselves were also not in a position to make proper arrangements for all the freed slaves. Therefore, the demand of the circumstances was that the mission of freeing the slaves and the slave girls be carried out in steps and not en bloc. Moreover only in this way they could have adjusted to the demands of a free society. These slaves, as was said earlier, already existed in the Arab society. The Quran has called them maa-malakat aymaanukum, those who are in your possession. All orders of the Quran in context of slavery are for these slaves only. Once they gained freedom the concept of slavery itself met its doom. For the slaves who existed were slowly but steadily absorbed in the free society and there was no scope for recruiting new ones. The phrase maa-malakat aymaanukum is in past tense. And at every place in the Quran only this tense is used for the slaves. This shows that the Quran is referring to only those slaves and slave girls who already existed in the Arab society.

The Quran employed various methods for the emancipation and betterment of the slaves who already existed (maa-malakat aymaanukum) in the Arab society. First of all it encouraged people to free slaves. The Muslims were urged to be kind and considerate to their slaves. They were told that to emancipate a slave was a meritorious act. They could atone for some of their offences by setting a slave free.

Mu-minatinw-wa diyatum-musalla-matun.

A Muslim would never kill another Muslim except by mistake. If he kills another Muslim by mistake he should set free a believing slave and pay blood money to the family of the deceased. (4/92)

Freeing the slaves so as to atone for frivolous oaths.

(If you have taken an oath not to partake a particular lawful thing, mind it that) Allah holds you accountable only for oaths taken with serious intent and not for frivolous oaths. The atonement for breaking serious oaths is the feeding of ten poor persons with such food as your family eats, or providing clothes to them or setting a slave free. (5/89)

If a person in anger calls his wife as if she were her mother then this is called Zihar. It is also an offence and can be atoned by setting a slave free.

But those who pronounce the word Zihar (mother etc. in state of anger) to their wives then wish to go back on the words they uttered, (it is ordained that such a one) should free a slave. (58/3)

Today it is hard to understand the difficulty an Arab had to undergo in these types of atonements. For we cannot estimate as to how much valuable a slave was for them. Besides, this also affected their social and economic life because slaves had become part and parcel of their society. In such circumstances it was an act of courage to free a slave.

As such the Quran has compared it with scaling a mountain during which man looses his breath on every step.

mal-aqabah? Fakku raqabah.

(But even after these facts) man does not gather strength to scale a mountain. And do you know what scaling a mountain means? It is freeing a slave. (90/11-13)

And if it was observed in any slave that he had the potential to contribute positively to the society by being a free person then a deed for his emancipation was written. Besides, he was given economic support to begin a new life.

And if any of your slaves ask for a deed in writing (for emancipation) then give them such a deed if you know any good in them; besides, give them something yourselves out of the means which Allah has given to you. (24/33)

After this the Quran said that marriages of the slaves and the slave girls should be solemnized so that they may begin their family lives and thereby become virtuous members of the society.

min ibaadikum wa imaaa-ikum.

Marry those among you who are single, and the eligible ones among your slaves, male or female. (24/32)

It was not that only the slaves married the slave girls others also did so.

a-lamu bi-iimaanikum.Ba-zukum-mim-ba-z.

Whoever amongst you cannot afford to marry a free believing woman may marry a believing slave girl. If you marry a slave girl do not treat her as inferior (because once she accepts Islam and marries you she is at par with others). Allah knows all about your Eiman (conviction in the Divine Order and following it. Remember the only consideration for distinction is Eiman, otherwise) the one of you is as the other. (4/25)

And you should behave properly and in good manners with your slaves. Your behavior towards them should be as good as if it is towards your parents and other near relatives.

And in dealing with your relatives you must strictly adhere to the laws of Allah and no man-made law should be mixed with them. Accordingly you should do well to: a. parents, b. kin-folk, c. orphans, d. others in need, e. neighbors irrespective of whether they are your relatives or not, f. way-farers who stand in need of your help, and g. those in your charge (slaves) or those who work under you. Allah does not like those who are proud and boastful. (4/36)

The Arabs, during the age of ignorance, as per their custom, maintained sexual relations with their slave girls but never gave them the social status of wives. According to the Quran it was wrong. If a slave girl has not been freed for one reason or the other and you enjoy sex with her then it is your duty to elevate her to the status of a wife. In this way the Quran by one stroke of the pen changed the derogatory position of a slave girl to high and axiomatic status of a wife. Their veiled relationships were made lawful. And by giving axiomatic status to the strangeness of their relationship the Quran provided them with equality in marital life and their children were also given equal standing.

(Who will be successful?) They are those who guard their modesty. (Successful are those who guard themselves against unlawful sex and every kind of sex perversion). But (lawful) sex with wife or slave girl (elevated to the status of wife) is permitted. (23/5-6)

In this way the Quran brought an end to slavery. The problem of slaves who already existed in the Arab society was solved and the sources of recruiting new slaves were closed forever. Now the question is: why methods of eradicating slavery are still mentioned in the Quran? The answer is simple: if any community, engrossed with the problem of slavery, embraces Islam then the Islamic State should have laws before it to tackle this predicament.

But with the replacement of Islamic political system with monarchy the Muslim society again adopted the customs and traditions of the age of ignorance. These anti-Islamic ways of life were accepted with such enthusiasm that it has become difficult to find an era in which slave girls in thousands were not present in harems of Muslim Sultans. One may ask as to why the Muslims fell back on the age of ignorance when the Quran with clear instructions was present with them? They have a backdoor called Tradition literature. Through this every brigand thought or act can undauntedly emerge. Therefore Traditions were fabricated in favor of exploiting slave girls. And the tragedy is that these inhuman thoughts and shameless slanders have been attributed to the last Messenger whose piousness, modesty, integrity and controlling of desires is beyond doubt. In the six books of Traditions there are such absurd Traditions in context of slave girls that put to shame even Shame herself. We do not have the courage to reproduce them here. The nations opposed to Islam have declared that slavery and prostitution are crime but in the sacred city of Mecca slave girls are openly sold.¹ Yaa-laytani mittu qabla haa-zaa wa kuntu nasyam-man-siyyaa (19/23), Oh, would that I had died before this and had become a thing of naught, forgotten! This is all because of the Tradition literatures because the Quran had put an end to slavery at a time when no nation had the wisdom to think on these lines. And despite this the Muslims from pulpits and platforms do not fail to announce proudly that they put an end to slavery. So the teachings of the Quran are entirely different from the acts of those who have become slaves to the Tradition literatures.

1.   In 1963 the newspapers reported that the government of Saudi Arabia has banned
      slavery. If this is correct then it is a welcome sign.