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Islam
Beliefs
Allah Oneness of God
Muhammad Seal of Prophets
Prophets of Islam Resurrection
Practices
Profession of Faith Prayer
Fasting Charity Pilgrimage
History & Leaders
Muslim history
Ahl al-Bayt Sahaba
Rashidun Caliphs Shia Imams
Texts & Laws
Qur'an Sunnah Hadith
Fiqh Sharia Kalam Tasawwuf
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Sunni Shia
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Science Architecture Mosques
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See also
Glossary of Islamic terms
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This article documents Islam's approach to slavery and the status of slaves within Islamic
society. Islam, like Judaism, Christianity and other world religions, accepted and even
endorsed the institution of slavery.
[1]
Muhammad and those of his Companions who
could afford it themselves owned slaves, and some of them acquired more by conquest.
However, the Islamic dispensation enormously improved the position of the Arabian
slave through the reforms of a humanitarian tendency both at the time of Muhammad and
the later early caliphs.
[1]
The legal legislations brought two major changes to the practice
of slavery inherited from antiquity, from Rome, and from Byzantium, which were to have
far-reaching effects. Bernard Lewis considers these reforms to be the cause of the vast
improvements in the practice of slavery in Muslim lands. The reforms also seriously
limited the supply of new slaves.
[1]
The Qur'an considers emancipation of a slave to be a meritorious deed, or as a condition
of repentance for certain sins. The Qur'an and Hadith contain numerous passages
supporting this view. Muslim jurists considered slavery to be an exceptional
circumstance, with the basic assumption of freedom until proven otherwise. Furthermore,
as opposed to pre-Islamic slavery, enslavement was limited to two scenarios: capture in
war, or birth to slave parents (birth to parents where one was free and the other not so
would render the offspring free).
[2]
Slavery in Islam does not have racial or color component, although this ideal has not
always been put into practice. Nevertheless, historically, black slaves could rise to
important positions in Muslim nations.
[3][4]
In early Islamic Arabia, Slaves were often
African blacks from across the Red Sea, but by expansion of the Islamic empire in later
times, slaves could be Berbers from North Africa, Slavs from Europe, Turks from Central
Asia, or Circassians from the Caucasus.
[5]
The majority of slaves throughout the history
of Arabia were, however, of African origin. The Arab slave trade was most active in
eastern Africa, although by the end of the 19th century such activity had reached a
significantly low ebb. The slavery in the Arab World in the 19th century has been
documented by Dr. Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, an Arabist and a scholar of Indonesian
affairs, who had visited Mecca during his journey in the Hijaz. He states in his book
Mohammedanism that "Slaves in the Arab world are generally not that different from
servants and workers in Europe” and that their masters “handled them 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."
[6]
It was in the early 20th century (post World War I) that slavery gradually became
outlawed and suppressed in Muslim lands, largely due to pressure exerted by Western
nations such as Britain and France (although the extent to which it died out and/or flared
up again is disputed).
[2]

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Islam and slavery From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article or section seems to contain too many quotations for an encyclopedia entry. Please improve the article or discuss proposed changes on the talk page. You can edit the article to add more encyclopaedic text or link the article to a page of quotations, possibly one of the same name, on Wikiquote. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for further suggestions. Islam Beliefs Allah – Oneness of God Muhammad – Seal of Prophets Prophets of Islam • Resurrection Practices Profession of Faith • Prayer Fasting • Charity • Pilgrimage History & Leaders Muslim history Ahl al-Bayt • Sahaba Rashidun Caliphs • Shia Imams Texts & Laws Qur'an • Sunnah • Hadith Fiqh • Sharia • Kalam • Tasawwuf Major branches Sunni • Shia Culture & Society Academics • Art • Philosophy Science • Architecture • Mosques Women • Calendar • Festivals Demographics • Politics See also Glossary of Islamic terms This box: view • talk • edit This article documents Islam's approach to slavery and the status of slaves within Islamic society. Islam, like Judaism, Christianity and other world religions, accepted and even endorsed the institution of slavery.[1] Muhammad and those of his Companions who could afford it themselves owned slaves, and some of them acquired more by conquest. However, the Islamic dispensation enormously improved the position of the Arabian slav ...
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