The universality of Islam taught by the Quran and the blessed words of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam ensures complete brotherhood between rich and poor and between master and servant. The noble message of Islam greatly improved the condition of slaves at a time when they had been reduced to the status of animals. Islam did not regard slaves merely as servants and subject them to manual labour only. They were given rights. This explains why in the books of Islamic jurisprudence many chapters are devoted to the rights and treatment of slaves.

Slavery in Islamic history

a. Slaves of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam

The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, as the perfect leader, taught by example how servants and slaves were to be treated. The incidents quoted below show how two of his salves loved him.

Zaid ibn Haritha, one of the slaves of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, had a fascinating life story. He was purchased as a slave and given to Khadija Radhi Allahu Anha, the wife of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Khadija Radhi Allahu Anha then gave him as a gift to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. He was at this time only eight years of age. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam freed him and adopted him as a son. He was so beloved to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam that people knew him as Zaid ibn Mohamed rather than Zaid ibn Haritha.The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam loved Zaid so dearly that he married his cousin, Zainab to Zaid Khadija Radhi Allahu Anhuma. Zainab was of noble lineage and very beautiful.

Zaid’s father, Sharahil, became very sad and grieved by the absence of his son. He decided to bring him back home. He and the Zaid’s uncle arrived in Makkah and came to plead to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam to allow Zaid to return home. The following words passed between them :

They asked : “O son of Ibn Abdul Muttalib, we have come to you regarding our son who is in your service. Would you be so kind as to return him to us and accept compensation on his behalf.

The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam asked : “What is his name?”

They answered : “Zaid ibn Haritha.”

The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam suggested an alternative solution : “Call him and allow him to choose. If he chooses you, you may take him without any payment. If he chooses me, then, by Allah, I can never give preference to anybody over the one who has chosen me despite being offered compensation.”

They happily agreed to the proposal. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam called for Zaid and asked him : “Do you recognise these people?”

Zaid answered : “Yes. This is my father and uncle.”

The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam then addressed him, saying : “You know who I am and you have come to know my relationship with you. You now have the choice of my company or theirs.”

Zaid replied : “I cannot choose them. I will never give preference to anyone over you. You are to me like a father and an uncle.”

His father and uncle shouted in astonishment : “Shame to you, Zaid! How can you prefer slavery over freedom and the company of your father and family.”

Zaid explained : “Most certainly I have seen something special in this noble personality. I will never give preference to anybody over him.”

When the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam saw this he declared : “O people, bear witness that Zaid is my son. He will inherit from me and I from him.”

His father and uncle felt at ease and left. (1)

Another of the Prophet's Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam slaves was Safina, a Persian slave who was originally purchased by Umme Salima Radhi Allahu Anha, the wife of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. She freed him on condition that he would serve the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. He replied: “Even if you did not specify this condition, I would never dream of separating from the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam as long as I live.” He was once asked: What is your real name?” He answered : “I refuse to tell you. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam of Allah gave me the name Safina. I desire no other name besides this." (2)

b. Slaves of the Sahabah

The heart rendering words of testimony in the Prophet's Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam favour point to the noble example set by him. His companions were naturally motivated by their master to treat their slaves with respect and give spiritual training and education to them :

• Umar saw to the education of slaves who were captured in the battle of Qaisaria.
• Uthman bought Hamraan ibn Abaan, as a slave, taught him to write and then made him his personal clerk.

Achievements of Muslim slaves

Once slaves had earned their freedom they did not vanish into oblivion. They were reintegrated into the Muslim community and were held as complete equals to other Muslims. They now enjoyed all the rights of free men.

a. Slaves as scholars

Hundreds of freed-slaves became great scholars in different fields of Islamic learning. There are many great names and personalities in the history of Islam who, today, are respected but who were once slaves. Today these great men are remembered as saints and scholars, not as slaves.

• From amongst the Companions were such great people as Salmaan Faarsi, Ammaar ibn Yaasir, Bilal Radhi Allahu Anhu ibn Rabaah, Khabaab ibn Arat Radhin Allahu Anhum and many more.
• From amongst the later generation Hasan Basri, Mohammed ibn Sireen and Ata ibn Rabaah Rahimahumullah were slaves.

Ata ibn Abi Rabaah Rahimahullah was the Imam and Faqih (jurist) of Makkah. According to historians he was a black slave who had been freed. When the Companion, Abdullah ibn Umar Radhi Allahu Anhu, came to Makkah and people began asking him questions, he reprimanded them, saying : "Why do you bring your problems to me when you have among you Ibn Abi Rabaah?" (3)

• Great saints such as Maalik ibn Dinaar and Zunnoon Misri were slaves. Ikramah, the freed slave of Ibn Abaas, was a great mufassir of the Qu'ran.
• In the field of Hadith, Sa'd Zuhri, a slave, was a renowned scholar and author of several outstanding works.
• One of the most accepted of all geographical works in Islamic literature, Mujamul Buldaan, ’The Dictionary of Countries’, was written by Yaaqut Hamawi, a slave.
• One of the most honourable of responsibilities in Islam, the task of calling people to prayer five times a day, was initiated and effected by a freed slave, Bilal Radhi Allahu Anhu Radhi Allahu Anhu. Bilal Radhi Allahu Anhu Radhi Allahu Anhu was an Ethiopian slave, who was a close companion of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. He will forever be remembered as the first Muáthin in the history of Islam. He had a beautiful voice and often accompanied the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam on his journeys. When Makkah was conquered the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam ordered Bilal Radhi Allahu Anhu to give the azaan from the top of the Ka'bah, which he did. Bilal Radhi Allahu Anhu was married to different women in his lifetime. Some of his wives were Arab women of noble lineage. One of his wives was the daughter of Abu Bakr Radhi Allahu Anhu.

Once the brother of Bilal Radhi Allahu Anhu asked for the hand of an Arab woman in marriage, claiming to be the brother of Bilal Radhi Allahu Anhu. Her family asked him to prove his claim. When Bilal Radhi Allahu Anhu came to testify, they said : "Whoever is the brother of Bilal Radhi Allahu Anhu we will marry our daughter to him." (4)

b. Slaves as leaders

We see the annals of Islamic history recording names of many former slaves who later ruled kingdoms, founded dynasties and commanded armies.

• The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam appointed Usama ibn Zaid Radhi Allahu Anhu, his freed slave, as leading commander of an army in which were such notable Companions as Abu Bakr and Umar Radhi Allahu Anhuma, who would later become the first two khalifs of the Muslims.

• Naf’i Ibn Abd-al-Haarith Radhi Allahu Anhu once met Umar Radhi Allahu Anhu after Umar Radhi Allahu Anhu had appointed him as governor of Makkah.

  When Umar Radhi Allahu Anhu saw him he asked : “Whom have you appointed as your vicegerent over the people of Makkah during your absence?”
  Naf’i Radhi Allahu Anhu replied : “Ibn Abza.”
  Umar Radhi Allahu Anhu asked : “Who is ibn Abza?”
  Naf’i Radhi Allahu Anhu replied : “One of our freed slaves.”
  Umar Radhi Allahu Anhu asked in astonishment : “Have you appointed a freed slave to rule over the people of Makkah?”
  Naf’i Radhi Allahu Anhu replied : “He is well versed in the Qu'ran and he is knowledgeable with regards to the injunctions of Sharia.”
  Umar Radhi Allahu Anhu answered : “The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam has certainly said : ‘By this book, Allah exalts nations and disgraces others." (Muslim)

• Kutb-ud-din, the first king of Delhi and the founder of the Muslim State in India, was a slave.
• The father of Mahmud of Ghazni, the Muslim ruler of India, was a slave.
• The Mamluk dynasty of Egypt was composed of slaves

Testimony of non-Muslims

• H.G Wells in The Outline of History, London, 1920, p.325 :

  “A year before his death, at the end of the tenth year of the Hegira, Muhammad made his last pilgrimage from Medina to Makkah. He made then a great sermon to his people…The reader will note that the first paragraph sweeps away all plunder and blood feuds among the followers of Islam. The last makes the believing Negro the equal of the Caliph…they established in the world a great tradition of dignified fair dealing, they breathe a spirit of generosity, and they are human and workable. They created a society more free from widespread cruelty and social oppression than any society had been in the world before.”

• Will Durant in The Age of Faith, New York, 1950, p. 209 :

  “The Moslem…handled them (slaves) 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…The offspring of a female slave by her master, of a free woman by her slave, was free from birth. Slaves were allowed to marry; and their children, if talented, might receive on education. It is astonishing how many sons of slaves rose to high place in the intellectual and political world of Islam, how many, like Mahmud and the early Mamluks, became kings.’’

Slavery amongst other nations

Having briefly touched on the gracious treatment of slaves in Islam and their achievements consider the following facts about slavery amongst other nations of the world :

• An edict of the king, given at Versailles in March 1724, ordered that slaves be forcibly baptised and be given instruction of the Roman Catholic Church.
  
• Slavery only ended in Europe with the French Revolution in the 18th century.
  
• The so-called ‘Founding Fathers’ of America, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, both owned hundreds of slaves. A major portion of the American revenue of the country was dependent on the African slave trade.
  
• Slavery in Europe was abolished because masters could not afford to keep slaves. They incurred a greater loss by keeping slaves.

Testimony of non-Muslims

Johnson Degroft, in African Glory, p. 127 :

‘’In 1441-42 Antonio Gonsalves and Nuno Tristan passed Cape Blanco on the Saharan coast, and on the return journey called at Rio d’Ouru, or, River of Gold, whence they brought back some gold dust and the slaves. These slaves having been sent by Prince Henryto Pope Martin V, the latter conferred on Portugal the right of possession and sovereignty over all lands that might be discovered between Cape Blanco and India.

Prince Henry the Navigator, having now received the support of the Church, carried horses on his ships to enable his sailors to hunt down their human prey on the Saharan coast. Great was the rejoicing in Catholic Christian Lisbon on each succeeding batch of African salves arrived.’’

The Christian scholar-statesman Dr Eric Williams in Capitalism and Slavery, pp.35-48, 192, 209 :

‘’…it has been estimated that the total import of slaves into all the British colonies between 1680 and 1786 was over two million.

‘’The sole aim of the slave merchants was to have their decks ‘well covered with black ones’. It is not uncommon to read of a vessel of 90 tons carrying 414… The space allotted to each slave on the Atlantic crossing (called the ‘Middle Passage’) measured five feet in length by sixteen inches in breadth. Packed like ‘rows of books on shelves’, as Clarkson said, chained two by two, right leg and left leg, right hand and left hand, each slave had less room than a man in a coffin. It was like the transportation of black cattle, and where sufficient Negroes were not available cattle were taken on. The slave trader’s aim was profit and not the comfort of his victims…

“Prior to 1783, however, all classes in English society presented a united front with regard to the slave trade. The monarchy, the government, the church, and public opinion in general, supported the slave trade…

“The barbarous removal of the Negroes from Africa continued for at least twenty-five years after 1833, to the sugar plantations of Brazil and Cuba.”

Professor Emil Torday, lecturing at Geneva in 1931 under the auspices of the ‘Society for the Protection of Children of Africa’, said :

“The tribal wars from which the European pirates claimed to deliver the people were mere sham-fights; it was a great battle when half a dozen men perished on a battlefield. Some may question the use of the word ‘pirates’ but it must be admitted that even the mode employed by Sir John Hawkins to procure his first stock of slaves for the new world was worse than that of an accredited pirate.

Pierre de Vaissiers gives us the incident of a captain who poisoned his human cargo when held up by calms or adverse winds. Another killed some of his slaves to feed the others with the flesh of their slaughtered friends.

“It is little wonder, then, that slaves died not only from physical ill-treatment, but also from grief, rage, and despair. Some undertook hunger strikes, some undid their chains and hurled themselves on the crew at futile attempts at insurrection.

“It is difficult to determine accurately the extent of the de-population of Africa occasioned by the slave trade. One French historian quoted by Utting says it is not exaggeration to say that 100,000,000 people were lost to Africa as a result of it. Dr W. E.B. Du Bois, the eminent Afro-Asian historian, also believes that Africa lost about 100,000,000 souls as a result of the slave trade.” (5)

Modern forms of slavery

The West, today, is using the term ‘slavery’, very deceptively. In this 21st century man has been mesmerised into believing that slavery does not exist in the West but Islam still encourages it. By exaggerating an isolated case of slavery in one Muslim country they aim to blemish the image of Islam globally. In this sly way, they casually divert the minds of people from other more devastating forms of slavery that do currently exist.

• Slavery of the human body - This syndicate exists and operates unexposed by the world media. The Trans-Atlantic slave trade involves the trafficking of hundreds of thousands of women and children as illegal immigrants into Europe every year. Each year, 50 000 women are brought to the US as sex slaves from countries such as Ukraine, Albania, the Philippines, Thailand, Mexico and Nigeria.
• Slavery of the mind - Today, the entire world is shackled in the slavery of believing that western culture is an ideal. People wrongly believe that true happiness lies in material comforts. Various types of inferiority complexes, addiction to television and sports fanaticism are effective forms of mental enslavement. The average man feels that he has freedom because he can spend on his private fantasies and fashion tastes. These in reality, too, are controlled by another tool of enslavement - the massive media monopoly on advertising.
• Economic enslavement - A glaring reality of our plastic world is that countries and nations are enslaved to the World Bank and the World Monetary Fund in the name of economic development? Governments of countries become enslaved to these structures by taking colossal loans that are interest based. The debt is then passed over to the citizens of the country who end up paying taxes. People are encouraged to buy on credit and open accounts. A substantial amount of their annual income goes into servicing their personal consumer debt. This amount is pure interest payments for which one gets nothing in return. If this is not slavery then what is?