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Slavery in Islamic Law: Difference between revisions
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→External Links: Added a great article series from atheism Vs islam.com on this topic - which covers a lot of original Islamic sources not mentioned on Wikiislam, as well as responding to counter-claims. Would recommend reading!
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===In Islamic law=== | ===In Islamic law=== | ||
In Islam, the consent of a slave girl for sex, for withdrawal before ejaculation ([[azl]]) or to marry her off to someone else was not considered necessary, historically, according to Professor Kecia Ali.<ref>{{Cite web|first=Kecia |last=Ali | publication-date=January 20, 2017 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/article/concubinage-and-consent/F8E807073C33F403A91C1ACA0CFA47FD | title=Concubinage and Consent|publisher=Cambridge University Press|access-date=October 20, 2021}}</ref> | In Islam, the consent of a slave girl for sex, for withdrawal before ejaculation ([[azl]]) or to marry her off to someone else was not considered necessary, historically, according to Professor Kecia Ali.<ref>{{Cite web|first=Kecia |last=Ali | publication-date=January 20, 2017 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/article/concubinage-and-consent/F8E807073C33F403A91C1ACA0CFA47FD | title=Concubinage and Consent|publisher=Cambridge University Press|access-date=October 20, 2021}}</ref> Early legal hadiths and jurist opinions include punishments for the rape of slave women, but these are explicitly referring to situations where someone other than the slave woman's owner forces her into intercourse, which is treated as a property crime for which compensation is due to the owner for the depreciation in her value and the perpetrator would face the hadd punishment (see [[Rape in Islamic Law]]). | ||
Professor Jonathan A. C. Brown has written extensively on this topic: | |||
{{Quote|Jonathan A. C. Brown (2019) ''Slavery & Islam'', pp. 281-282<ref>Jonathan A.C. Brown (2019) ''Slavery & Islam'', London: Oneworld Publications, Chapter 7, pp. 281-282, ISBN 978-1-78607-635-9</ref>|As noted earlier, marriage and a male's ownership of a female slave were the two relationships in which sex could licitly occur according to the Shariah. In marriage, the consent of the wife to sex was assumed by virtue of the marriage contract itself. In the case of the slave-concubine, consent was irrelevant because of the master's ownership of the woman in question. As Kecia Ali has noted, there is no evidence for any requirement for consent from slave women in books of Islamic law in the formative centuries of Islam.<BR /> | |||
[...]<BR /> | |||
In the Shariah, consent was crucial if you belonged to a class of individuals whose consent mattered: free women and men who were adults (even male slaves could not be married off against their will according to the Hanbali and Shafiʿi schools, and this extended to slaves with ''mukataba'' arrangements in the Hanafi school). Consent did not matter for minors. And it did not matter for female slaves, who could be married off by their master or whose master could have a sexual relationship with them if he wanted (provided the woman was not married or under a contract to buy her own freedom).}} | |||
Like wives, a slave woman had a right to complain in court if intercourse with her owner caused her physical harm (see [[Rape in Islamic Law]] for details). However, on this point Brown notes that "Both wives and slaves had the same recourse to courts or members of the community. Unlike wives, however, slaves were almost by definition cut off from support networks other than their owners".<ref>Ibid. p. 132</ref> | |||
Regarding slave marriages, Joseph Schacht wrote in his textbook on Islamic law, "The marriage of the slave requires the permission of the owner; he can also give the slave in marriage against his or her will. [...] The unmarried female slave is at the disposal of her male owner as a concubine, but no similar provision applies between a male slave and his female owner."<ref>Joseph Schact, [https://archive.org/details/INTRODUCTIONISLAMICLAWSchacht/page/n133/mode/2up An Introduction to Islamic Law], Oxford University Press, 1982 (first published 1964), p. 127</ref> | |||
In her book ''Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam'', Kecia Ali explains that there was consensus that slave women could be compelled by their owners into marrying whosoever their owner wished (except that he could not himself marry her while she was a slave, though she could become an ''umm walad'', as discussed above). As for male slaves, the Maliki school held that owners could marry off their own male slaves without their consent, as did most Hanafis. The Shafi'i school in contrast held that this could not be done without the male slave's consent.<ref>Kecia Ali, "Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam", Massachussets: Harvard University Press, 2010, pp. 39-40</ref> A master could annul the marriage of his female slave and contract her divorce without her permission, whereas from the 9th century CE jurists decided that a male slave's marriage could not be dissolved by his owner without his permission (though all jurists agreed that his owner's permission was required for him to marry in the first place).<ref>Ibid. p. 153-5</ref> | In her book ''Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam'', Kecia Ali explains that there was consensus that slave women could be compelled by their owners into marrying whosoever their owner wished (except that he could not himself marry her while she was a slave, though she could become an ''umm walad'', as discussed above). As for male slaves, the Maliki school held that owners could marry off their own male slaves without their consent, as did most Hanafis. The Shafi'i school in contrast held that this could not be done without the male slave's consent.<ref>Kecia Ali, "Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam", Massachussets: Harvard University Press, 2010, pp. 39-40</ref> A master could annul the marriage of his female slave and contract her divorce without her permission, whereas from the 9th century CE jurists decided that a male slave's marriage could not be dissolved by his owner without his permission (though all jurists agreed that his owner's permission was required for him to marry in the first place).<ref>Ibid. p. 153-5</ref> | ||
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==External Links== | ==External Links== | ||
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHm9F1G5IRE What does Islam say about slavery - Part I Theology] and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkMcUKRNssY Part II History] - Salsalah - Youtube.com | *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHm9F1G5IRE What does Islam say about slavery - Part I Theology] and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkMcUKRNssY Part II History] - Salsalah - ''Youtube video'' | ||
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zexn9IrMmNI HarrisSultanAthiest - Islam and Slavery] - How Islam Enslaved Africa - ''YouTube Video'' | |||
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-BRkNwpczg Friendly Exmuslim - Hijab's Dishonesty about Slavery in Islam] - ''YouTube Video'' | |||
* [https://atheism-vs-islam.com/index.php/islamic-slavery/47-part-1-crimes-of-islamic-slavery-against-humanity Part 1: The Crimes of Islamic Slavery against Humanity], [https://atheism-vs-islam.com/index.php/islamic-slavery/46-part-2-allah-muhammad-forced-the-poor-slave-women-to-move-with-naked-breasts-in-public Part 2: Allah/Muhammad Forced Poor Slave Women to Move with Naked Breasts in Public], [https://atheism-vs-islam.com/index.php/islamic-slavery/45-part-3-muslim-excuses-deceptions-regarding-islamic-slavery Part 3: Islamic Excuses and Deceptions Regarding Islamic Slavery] - ''Atheism vs Islam.com articles on this topic'' | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
{{reflist}} | {{reflist}} | ||