Adiba Islam:
Among the slanders that anti-Islamists make about Islam is that Islam encourages barbaric slavery, that Islam established slavery, used prisoners of war as slaves, etc. For the past few centuries, this Islamophobic group has exclusively presented Islam as a coercive, slavery-encouraging religion. To do this they have taken the distorted history of Islam as well as conveniently used excerpts from some verses of the Qur'an. By mistranslating the Qur'an, by misinterpreting it, it can be said by a kind of manipulation, they want to establish Islam as a religion that creates slavery. But many of us are not aware of the great fact that Islam did not actually create slavery, but that Islam came to abolish inhuman practices like slavery. Centuries after centuries, our ulama class has not been able to give any logical answer to the slander and misinterpretation of Islam by this anti-Islamic group. On the contrary, they failed to refute the arguments put forward by Islam haters and accepted that, "There is slavery in Islam, but Islam has also given many privileges to slaves." In this way, they tried to save themselves from the hands of Islam haters by presenting weak arguments. Many speakers even emphasized the need for slavery. While the Qur'an does not support slavery, many verses call for the freeing of slaves. Many say that Islam allows prisoners of war to be used as slaves. But this is also completely false. Allah says about prisoners of war in verse 4 of Surah Muhammad, 'When you fight the disbelievers, strike them on the neck, and when you have completely defeated them, tie them tightly. Then be kind to them, or take ransom from them. You will continue to fight until the enemy surrenders arms!
Before discussing the context of Islamic slavery, it is necessary to say something about the origin of slavery. Slavery has been prevalent in the world since ancient times. The existence of slavery can be found in the spread of ancient Babylonian, Mesopotamia civilization several thousand years ago. In the 7th and 8th centuries BC, ancient Greece and Rome also practiced monogamous slavery. The anti-Islamic writer MA Khan in his book 'Islamic Jihad' has mentioned that the ancient Greek city of Athens had 4,60,000 slaves against only 2,100 free citizens at one time. In the early Roman Republic and Roman Empire, 15 to 20 percent of the population were slaves. In ancient China, emperors kept hundreds and even thousands of slaves engaged in their luxury and service. Most slaves were born to slave mothers. Slavery was religiously recognized and sanctioned in Europe during the Middle Ages. In 375 AD, during the reign of Emperor Flavius Gratianus, a decree was issued regarding slaves that accused a slave of a crime against his master by burning him alive. Thus, since ancient times, the victorious group attacked the weaker group and made the defeated group slaves or trafficked people from poverty-stricken countries. By means of which the person would become the permanent property of any one person in permanent succession.
It would take thousands of pages to write how pathetic and horrible the conditions of those slaves were in the chains of slavery. So not going there. All I can say is that, far from meeting the basic basic rights of the slaves or the basic needs of survival, their freedom to breathe was very much dependent on the will of the master. They were not considered human, their position was lower than animals.
Coming back to the original discussion, when the last Messenger of Allah (PBUH) appeared in Arabia, one of the major businesses of Arabia was the slave trade. A large part of the Arab trade system was the slave trade. Blacks were captured from various African countries, ships were filled and sold as slaves to various countries around the world. Not only black Africans, but also prisoners of war were sold as slaves. As trade caravans from different countries had to pass through Mecca, Mecca was also a major center of slave trade. There was also a thriving slave trade. After the advent of Islam, Rasulullah came and took a vocal stand against this system of slavery. He took a strong stand against discrimination, discrimination, tyranny of the strong over the weak, oppression and exploitation, and abolition of slavery. But there is no way to deny that it was not possible to eliminate a social custom that had been developed for hundreds of years in a day. It was not so easy to eliminate the mentality of slavery that had been ingrained in society for generations, to ensure the rights of slaves, to value them as human beings, to change the slave-owner relationship. At the time I am talking about, the Arab society is completely immersed in illiteracy, illiteracy, ignorance, arrogance and superstition. To unite people against slavery from such a society, to root out slavery, meant, in a practical sense, to wage war against the whole society.
So the first step to abolish slavery was taken by Rasul (pbuh) from his own house. When Ummul Momineen Amma Khadijah (RA) hired the slave Zayd Ibn Harisa (RA) to serve her after her marriage to Rasulullah (RA), Rasulullah (SAW) immediately set Zayd free. But even after being freed from slavery, Zayd (RA) refused to leave the company of Rasulullah. As a result, when Zaid's (RA) father and uncles came to the Prophet (PBUH) to look for him, Zaid (RA) did not go with them. Muhammad (pbuh) said, "He is free now, you can take him." But Zayd (pbuh) said the opposite. He said to father and uncle, 'You go back, I will not go. I want to stay with him.' Then how was Rasulullah's behavior with the slave where even after being freed from slavery, a slave willingly considered the company of Rasulullah as the most adorable thing in life! It is easy to imagine that Rasulullah's treatment of Zayd (RA) was not that of a slave. In fact, Rasulullah's behavior with him was like a child. So he was so impressed with the behavior and manners of the Holy Prophet (S) and later his faith in him as a Prophet was so firm that he followed the Holy Prophet (S) like a shadow till the last day of his life. He even sacrificed his life on the battlefield by participating in the revolutionary movement.
Second, another incident is known to all during the reign of Umar, the second Caliph of Islam. Umar (RA) was going to Jerusalem on state business. Medina to Jerusalem is about 1300 km, most of which was desert. Omar (RA) was accompanied on this long journey by a servant known in history as Das. But does Omar's behavior with him go with the slavery system mentioned above? He took turns riding the camel with his servant all the way and some way he kept the servant on the camel and proceeded by the camel rope. These two facts are enough to understand that Islam has accorded the status of brother to the slave.
Islam believes in voluntary labor, abolition of slavery. But 60/70 years after the passing away of Rasulullah, when the Ummah Mohammadi nation lost the true creed of Islam and forgot their goals and objectives, then the rulers of the nation abandoned the responsibility of establishing worldly justice, justice, peace and equality and sank into imperial expansion and luxury. The rulers of the nation dug graves again for their own pleasure and luxury and revived the slavery system of the age of ignorance. To abolish the slavery system, to ensure the equal rights of all people, Rasulullah (S.A.W.) struggled all his life, fought against the entire social system. Later, after the nation went astray, the Muslim rulers of the nation again started the practice of buying and selling slaves, searching, etc. They forgot that all people are children of one parent. But since they are Muslim rulers in name and identity, their misdeeds have been recorded in history as the behavior of Islam, and the stigma of slavery has been imposed on Islam. But it needs to be clarified that Islam is the law of Allah and the way of life of Rasulullah. Islam cannot be held responsible for what it does later on by assuming the name of Muslim. Likewise, Islam does not accept responsibility for the practice of slavery by misguided Muslim nominal rulers.
