Slavery in Islam

A Subject Most Would Rather Avoid

Few subjects are more uncomfortable than slavery. Modern Western societies rightly view slavery as a profound moral evil—a stain on human history that should never be repeated. The transatlantic slave trade, in particular, stands as one of history's great atrocities, and its legacy continues to shape Western societies today.

What many Westerners do not know is that the Islamic slave trade was larger, lasted longer, and in many ways was more brutal than its Atlantic counterpart. More importantly for our purposes, slavery in Islam is not merely a historical aberration but is rooted in Islamic texts and the example of Muhammad himself. The Quran regulates slavery, Muhammad owned slaves, and Islamic law has always permitted slavery under certain conditions.

This is not ancient history. In 2014, the Islamic State (ISIS) revived slavery as an institution, citing Quranic authority and Muhammad's example. Thousands of Yazidi women and girls were enslaved, bought, sold, and systematically raped—all with explicit religious justification.

Slavery in the Quran

The Quran does not condemn slavery. It does not call for its abolition. It does not declare that all humans are free by divine right. Instead, it accepts slavery as a social institution and provides regulations for its practice.

Slaves as Property

The Quran uses several terms for slaves, including abd (male slave), ama (female slave), and the phrase ma malakat aymanukum ("what your right hands possess")—a euphemism for slaves, particularly female slaves taken as war captives.

The Quran explicitly permits Muslim men to have sexual relations with their female slaves, in addition to their wives:

This passage appears almost verbatim in Surah 70:29-30 as well. The phrase "those their right hands possess" refers to enslaved women. The Quran thus permits—without any hint of moral disapproval—sexual access to female slaves. The consent of the enslaved woman is not mentioned because, as property, her consent was not required.

Regulations, Not Abolition

Other Quranic passages regulate various aspects of slavery:

• Surah 4:24 — Permits marriage to (or sexual relations with) married female captives, even if their husbands are still alive: "And [also prohibited to you are all] married women except those your right hands possess."
• Surah 4:25 — Permits marriage to believing slave women for those who cannot afford free women.
• Surah 24:32 — Encourages the marriage of slaves: "And marry the unmarried among you and the righteous among your male slaves and female slaves."
• Surah 24:33 — Addresses forced prostitution of slave women (forbidding it if the women desire chastity, though the implications of this qualification are troubling).
• Surah 2:178 — Establishes different legal standards for slaves versus free persons in matters of retaliation: "The free for the free, the slave for the slave."

Manumission as Meritorious

The Quran does encourage the freeing of slaves as a good deed and as expiation for certain sins:

Freeing a slave is presented as meritorious—but this actually presupposes the legitimacy of slavery. You cannot free what should not be enslaved in the first place. The Quran treats slavery as a given reality to be managed, not a moral evil to be eliminated.

Muhammad and Slavery

Muhammad's personal involvement with slavery is extensively documented in the hadith and sira (biographical) literature. He did not merely tolerate slavery—he actively participated in it as an owner, trader, and recipient of slaves.

Muhammad as Slave Owner

Islamic sources confirm that Muhammad owned numerous slaves throughout his life. Some were given to him as gifts; others were acquired through conquest. Among the slaves Muhammad is recorded as owning:

• Zayd ibn Haritha — Perhaps the most famous, whom Muhammad later freed and adopted (before Quran 33:4-5 abolished the practice of adoption)
• Maria al-Qibtiyya (Mary the Copt) — A Christian slave girl sent as a gift from the ruler of Egypt, who became Muhammad's concubine and bore him a son (Ibrahim, who died in infancy)
• Safiyya bint Huyayy — A Jewish woman captured at Khaybar whose husband was executed; Muhammad took her as a wife
• Rayhana bint Zayd — A Jewish woman from the Banu Qurayza tribe, taken as a slave after Muhammad ordered the execution of her male relatives

Various hadith mention other slaves by name. The exact number Muhammad owned is debated, but Islamic sources consistently portray him as a slave owner.

Muhammad as Slave Trader

Muhammad also bought, sold, and traded slaves. One hadith records:

Note that Muhammad traded two black slaves for one non-black slave—a transaction that suggests a racial hierarchy in the valuation of human beings.

Distribution of War Captives

After military victories, Muhammad oversaw the distribution of captives— including women and children—as slaves. The most notorious example is the Banu Qurayza, discussed in another lesson, but it was a regular practice:

This hadith records that Surah 4:24 was revealed specifically to permit Muslims to have sexual relations with married female captives—women whose husbands were still alive. The "revelation" conveniently removed the companions' moral hesitation.

The Sunnah Establishes Precedent

Because Muhammad is considered the perfect example (uswa hasana) for all Muslims to follow, his involvement in slavery has theological significance. What Muhammad did cannot be intrinsically immoral in Islamic thought. If he owned slaves, slavery must be permissible. If he had sexual relations with captive women, such relations must be lawful. His example establishes permanent precedent.

The Arab Slave Trade

While Western education focuses almost exclusively on the transatlantic slave trade, the Arab slave trade was larger in scope, longer in duration, and affected more people. Understanding this history is essential for an honest assessment of Islam's relationship with slavery.

Scale and Duration

The Arab slave trade began in the 7th century with the rise of Islam and continued into the 20th century—over 1,300 years. By comparison, the transatlantic slave trade lasted roughly 400 years (15th-19th centuries).

Historians estimate that the Arab slave trade transported:

• Approximately 17 million Africans across the Sahara, Red Sea, and Indian Ocean routes
• Additional millions from Eastern Europe (Slavs—the very word "slave" derives from the ethnic term "Slav"), Central Asia, and India
• Compared to approximately 12 million transported in the transatlantic trade

Castration and Mortality

One of the most horrific features of the Arab slave trade was the widespread practice of castration. Male slaves, particularly those destined to serve as harem guards (eunuchs), were routinely castrated. The mortality rate from this procedure was staggering—estimates suggest that for every eunuch who survived, several died from the operation or its complications.

This practice helps explain a puzzling demographic fact: while millions of African slaves were brought to the Americas, their descendants form a significant population today. In the Arab world, despite even larger numbers of imported African slaves over a longer period, there is a much smaller population of African descent. Castration, high mortality rates, and the practice of using male slaves for labor that often proved fatal explain this difference.

The African Slave Trade Routes

Arab traders operated three major slave routes from Africa:

• Trans-Saharan Route — From sub-Saharan Africa across the desert to North Africa and the Mediterranean
• Red Sea Route — From the Horn of Africa to Arabia
• Indian Ocean Route — From East Africa to the Persian Gulf, India, and beyond

These routes operated for over a millennium, devastating entire regions of Africa. Arab and Muslim African traders conducted raids deep into the continent, depopulating vast areas and creating a culture of endemic warfare and slave-raiding.

The European Slave Trade

Less known is the Arab trade in European slaves. For centuries, Muslim raiders from North Africa (the "Barbary pirates") attacked European coastal communities and shipping, enslaving an estimated 1-1.25 million Europeans between 1500 and 1800. Coastal villages in Italy, Spain, France, England, Ireland, and even Iceland were raided. The slave markets of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli were filled with European captives.

This trade continued until European powers finally suppressed it militarily in the early 19th century—the same period when Western nations were abolishing slavery themselves.

Abolition Came Late and Under Pressure

Slavery was not abolished in Muslim societies through internal reform or religious awakening. It was abolished primarily through external Western pressure:

• Ottoman Empire — Officially abolished the slave trade in 1847, under British pressure, though enforcement was weak
• Saudi Arabia — Abolished slavery in 1962
• Yemen — Abolished slavery in 1962
• Mauritania — Officially abolished slavery in 1981 (the last country in the world to do so), though it persists in practice

The late dates of abolition in Muslim societies—and the fact that it was imposed from outside rather than arising from Islamic reform movements— reflects the fact that slavery has religious sanction in Islam. Abolitionists could not argue that slavery violated Islamic principles because the Quran, Muhammad, and 1,400 years of Islamic jurisprudence said otherwise.

The ISIS Revival of Slavery

In August 2014, the Islamic State (ISIS) captured the Sinjar region of northern Iraq, home to the Yazidi religious minority. What followed was a systematic campaign of genocide and enslavement that shocked the world— but should not have surprised anyone familiar with Islamic history and texts.

The Enslavement of the Yazidis

ISIS fighters killed thousands of Yazidi men and older women. Younger women and girls—estimates range from 5,000 to 7,000—were taken as sabaya (female slaves). They were transported to ISIS-held territory, held in warehouses, catalogued, and distributed or sold to ISIS fighters.

The women were subjected to systematic rape, passed between multiple "owners," and sometimes sold in slave markets. Some were children as young as nine years old. Survivors' testimonies describe unimaginable horrors.

Religious Justification

What made this revival of slavery particularly significant was that ISIS explicitly justified it on religious grounds. In October 2014, ISIS published an article in its English-language magazine Dabiq titled "The Revival of Slavery Before the Hour," which argued:

• Enslaving the families of non-Muslims (kuffar) is a firmly established aspect of sharia
• The practice was only abandoned due to the weakness of Muslims and pressure from the West
• Reviving slavery is a sign of the approaching Day of Judgment
• Sexual relations with female slaves are explicitly permitted by Quran and sunnah

ISIS also published detailed guidelines on the treatment of slaves, including rules about when a slave could be beaten, when sexual relations were permissible, and how slaves could be bought and sold.

Were They Distorting Islam?

Western politicians and media consistently described ISIS as "distorting" or "perverting" Islam. But on the specific question of slavery, ISIS was not distorting Islamic texts—it was applying them. Their religious justifications cited:

• Quranic verses permitting sexual relations with "what your right hands possess" (Surah 23:5-6; 70:29-30)
• Quranic permission to take captives in warfare (Surah 8:67)
• Muhammad's own practice of owning slaves and distributing captive women
• 1,400 years of Islamic jurisprudence permitting slavery

Mainstream Muslim scholars condemned ISIS, but they struggled to provide a principled Islamic argument against slavery itself. Most arguments focused on procedural objections (ISIS wasn't a legitimate caliphate, they weren't following proper rules) rather than fundamental moral opposition to slavery as an institution.

The Christian Response

How should Christians respond to the reality of slavery in Islam? Several principles should guide us:

1. Acknowledge Christian Failures

Christians must honestly acknowledge that professing Christians participated in the transatlantic slave trade and used Scripture to defend slavery. This was a grievous sin and a betrayal of the Gospel. We have no grounds for self-righteousness.

However, we can also point out that the abolitionist movement was overwhelmingly Christian in its motivation and leadership. William Wilberforce, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Frederick Douglass, and countless others opposed slavery precisely because of their Christian convictions. The Gospel contains the seeds of slavery's destruction, even if Christians were slow to recognize and apply them.

2. Recognize the Difference in Textual Authority

The critical difference is this: Christians who defended slavery were misapplying Scripture; Muslims who practice slavery are applying it. The New Testament nowhere commands slavery, nowhere presents slave-owning as admirable, and contains principles (the image of God, the equality of all in Christ, the call to love neighbors as ourselves) that inevitably undermine it. The Quran explicitly permits slavery and is reinforced by Muhammad's personal example.

3. Proclaim Human Dignity

The Christian message is one of radical human dignity. Every person—regardless of race, ethnicity, or social status—is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Every person is someone for whom Christ died. Every person has infinite worth.

This vision of human equality before God—revolutionary in its first-century context—contains the seeds that would eventually destroy slavery wherever the Gospel took root.

4. Show Compassion

Many Muslims are deeply uncomfortable with slavery in their religious tradition. They recognize it as morally wrong but struggle to reconcile this moral intuition with their religious texts. We should approach such Muslims with compassion, recognizing that they are wrestling with a genuine dilemma. Our goal is not to win arguments but to point them to Christ—the One who came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).

Conclusion: Two Different Visions of Human Worth

Slavery in Islam is not an aberration or a distortion—it is a practice rooted in the Quran, exemplified by Muhammad, codified in Islamic law, and practiced throughout Islamic history until external pressure forced its abolition. The revival of slavery by ISIS demonstrated that this potential remains wherever Islamic texts are taken seriously.

Christianity offers a different vision. Though Christians have failed to live up to their own principles, those principles—the image of God in every person, the equality of all before Christ, the call to love even enemies— inevitably produce movements toward freedom and human dignity.

When sharing the Gospel with Muslims, we offer not just a different theology but a different anthropology—a vision of human beings as infinitely valuable, created by a God who became a servant to set us free.