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[quote=Muslima][quote=Anonymous][quote=Muslima]
[quote]The issue is, who defines what is "evil" and "unjust"? There is a great deal of latitude for interpretation here, obviously.

A crucial point for the current ISIS crisis is that Muslims are required to live under Muslim law, i.e. with a Muslim government and courts to enforce sharia law, with an Islamic banking system, et cetera. In a Muslim state, sharia rules apply to everybody, including dhimmi (non-Muslims). Therefore, teachers can define "evil" to include any secular (read: religiously tolerant) government. ISIS wants a "caliphate" to impose sharia law on everybody within the Islamic state's borders, because secular governmental structures are "evil."[/quote]

False!One of the fundamental teachings of Islam is that non-Muslims are guaranteed freedom to practise their religions and customs without any restriction as long as non-Muslims reciprocate by not being insensitive to the Muslim community. The Constitution, too, categorically restricts Most Islamic laws to Muslims. And one more time, Muslims are not required to live under sharia law, they are required to follow the law of the land they live in. In Islam obedience to the law of the land is a religious duty. The Qur'an commands Muslims to remain faithful to not only Allah and the Prophet Muhammad (saw), but also the authority they live under.

[quote]Also, the Quran is quite clear that you can't kill your prisoners of war, but you can certainly make slaves out of your non-Muslim prisoners. This is applies equally tor capturing non-Muslim women and children. If your slaves convert to Islam, you must free them. It strikes me that Muslima is gilding the lily when she calls this "asylum" in her post above. [/quote]

[quote]PP again. I should add, I believe it's permissible for Muslims to sleep with female captives/prisoners of war, in addition to with their wives. Mohammed did this.[/quote]

When Islam was reveled to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), slavery was a worldwide common social phenomenon; it was much older than Islam. Slavery was deeply rooted in every society to the extent that it was impossible to imagine a civilized society without slaves. In spite of this social fact, Islam was the first religion to recognize slavery as a social illness that needed to be addressed. Since slavery was deeply rooted in the society, Islam did not abolish it at once. Rather, Islam treated slavery in the same manner it treated other social illnesses. Islam followed the same methodology of gradual elimination in dealing with this social disease as it did with other social illnesses, for example: the prohibition of alcohol in three steps.

Concerning having slave women, this was a practice necessitated by the condition in which early Muslims found themselves vis-a-vis non-Muslims, as both parties engaged in wars. Slave women or milk al-yameen are referred to in the Qur'an as “Those whom your right hand possess” or “ma malakat aymanukum”; they are those taken as captives during conquests and subsequently became slaves, or those who were descendants of slaves. Thus, it was a war custom in the past to take men and women as captives and then turn them into slaves. Islam did not initiate it, rather, it was something in practice long ago before the advent of Islam. And when Islam came, it tried to eradicate this practice, bit by bit. So it first restricted it to the reciprocal practice of war, in the sense that Muslims took war captives just as the enemies did with Muslims.

But as it aimed at putting an end to such issue, Islam laid down rules which would eventually lead to eradicating the practice. So it allowed Muslims to have intercourse with slave women taken as captives of just and legitimate wars. In so doing, the woman would automatically become free if she got pregnant. What's more, her child would also become free. Not only that, Islam also ordered a Muslim to treat the slave woman in every respect as if she were his wife. She should be well fed, clothed and given due protection. In the family environment, she had the opportunity to learn about Islam and was free to accept it or reject it. She also had the opportunity to earn her freedom for she could be ransomed.

Islam restored dignity to slaves and enhanced their social status. It made no distinction between a slave or a free man, and all were treated with equality which was unheard of in that society 1400 years ago. It was this fact that always attracted slaves to Islam. It is painful to see that those who never cease to be vociferous in their unjust criticism of Islam should take no notice of this principle of equality, when even in this enlightened age there are countries where laws are made discriminating against the vast majority of population, to keep them in practical servitude. This dignity restored to slaves was documented even by Non-Muslims throughout history:

[quote]
P. L Riviere writes:

"A master was enjoined to make his slave share the bounties he received from God. It must be recognised that, in this respect, the Islamic teaching acknowledged such a respect for human personality and showed a sense of equality which is searched for in vain in ancient civilization"

Source:  Riviere P.L., Revue Bleaue (June 1939).  
And not only in ancient civilisations; even in the modern Christian civilisation the ingrained belief of racial supremacy is still manifesting itself every day. A. J. Toynbee says in Civilization on Trial:

"The extinction of race consciousness as between Muslims is one of the outstanding achievements of Islam, and in the contemporary world there is, as it happens, a crying need for the propagation of this Islamic virtue..." Then he comments that "in this perilous matter of race feeling it can hardly be denied that (the triumph of English-speaking peoples) has been a misfortune."

Source:  Toynbee, A.J., Civilization on Trial (New York, 1948), p. 205.
Napoleon Bonaparte is recorded as saying about the condition of slaves in Muslim countries:

"The slave inherits his master's property and marries his daughter. The majority of the Pashas had been slaves. Many of the grand viziers, all the Mamelukes, Ali Ben Mourad Beg, had been slaves. They began their lives by performing the most menial services in the houses of their masters and were subsequently raised in status for their merit or by favour. In the West, on the contrary, the slave has always been below the position of the domestic servants; he occupies the lowest rug. The Romans emancipated their slaves, but the emancipated were never considered as equal to the free-born. The ideas of the East and West are so different that it took a long time to make the Egyptians understand that all the army was not composed of slaves belonging to the Sultan al-Kabir."

Source:  Cherfils, Bonaparte et l'Islam (Paris, 1914)
Annemarie Schimmel writes:

"The entire history of Islam proves that slaves could occupy any office, and many former military slaves, usually recruited from among the Central Asian Turks, became military leaders and often even rulers as in eastern Iran, India (the Slave Dynasty of Delhi), and medieval Egypt (the Mamluks). “

Source:  "Islam: An Introduction", p. 67[/quote]

Islam recognises no distinction of race or colour, black or white, citizens or soldiers, rulers or subjects; they are perfectly equal, not in theory only, but in practice. The first mu'azzin (herald of the prayer call) of Islam, a devoted adherent of the Prophet and an esteemed disciple, was a slave. The Qur'an lays down the measure of superiority in verse 13 of chapter 49. It is addressed to mankind, and preaches the natural brotherhood of man without distinction of tribe, clan, gender, race or colour. It says:

“O you men! We have created you of a male and a female, and then We made you (into different) races and tribes so that you may know (and “recognise) each other. Surely the most honourable of you with Allah is the one who is most pious among you; surely Allah is All-Knowing and “Aware.”  The Qur'an 49:13

it was a war custom in the past to take men and women as captives and then turn them into slaves. Islam did not initiate it, but it first restricted it to the reciprocal practice of war, in the sense that Muslims took war captives just as the enemies did with them. The texts of Islam took a strong stance against this. It says in a hadeeth qudsi: “Allaah, may He be exalted, said: ‘There are three whose opponent I will be on the Day of Resurrection, and whomever I oppose, I will defeat … A man who sold a free man and consumed his price.’” Narrated by al-Bukhaari (2227). It is worth pointing out that you do not find any text in the Qur’aan or Sunnah which enjoins taking others as slaves, whereas there are dozens of texts in the Qur’aan and the ahaadeeth of the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) which call for manumitting slaves and freeing them. Islam limited the sources of slaves that existed before the beginning of the Prophet’s mission to one way only: enslavement through war which was imposed on kaafir prisoners-of-war. [/quote]

I'm the person you're responding to, but I'm not 23:35. I'm sorry, but a lot of this glosses over what's in the Quran and also doesn't reflect historical reality. Who do you think was selling black slaves to the European slave traders? It was Muslims selling African polytheists to the European Christians. You haven't even attempted to deny that the Quran condones taking non-Muslim (kaafir) prisoners as slaves, instead you've offered some fairly unconvincing arguments about how slave-taking is limited (ask West African polytheists how this worked out for them a few centuries ago). As for your point about how Islam didn't invent slavery, the pity of it all is that a document that purports to be God's direct word to humanity actually condones slavery.[/quote]

Look, I am not here to deny or approve of anything according to your liking. I am here to share the true teachings of the Quran through how it was taught to me for years that I spent studying  and my understandings  as a Muslim and my life as a perpetual islamic Student. I am not just an ignorant anonymous googling random verses that they don't  know anything about, no context, not the reason why the verse was revealed, when it was revealed, what the tafseer of the verse is  and spreading lies on the internet.  Whether you like it or not, Islam doesn't condone slavery especially not slavery in the barbaric way it was practiced in the WEST. In short, it is not only the institution of slavery that causes revulsion in the human heart, it is the attitudes of inhumanity which sustain it. And the truth is, if the institution no longer formally exists but the attitudes persist, then humanity has not gained much, if at all. That is why colonial exploitation replaced slavery, and why the chains of unbearable, unrepayable international debt have replaced colonial exploitation: only slavery has gone, its structures of inhumanity and barbarism are still securely in place. Before we turn to the Islamic perspective on slavery, let us recall a name famous even among Western Europeans, that of Harun al-Rashid, and let us recall that this man who enjoyed such authority and power over all Muslims was the son of a slave. Nor is he the only such example; slaves and their children enjoyed enormous prestige, authority, respect and (shall we say it) freedom, within the Islamic system, in all areas of life, cultural as well as political. How could this have come about? Islam amended and educated the institution of slavery and the attitudes of masters to slaves. The Qur’an taught in many verses that all human beings are descended from a single ancestor, that none has an intrinsic right of superiority over another, whatever his race or his nation or his social standing. And from the Prophet’s teaching, upon him be peace, the Muslims learnt these principles, which they applied both as laws and as social norms:

"Whosoever kills his slave: he shall be killed. Whosoever imprisons his slave and starves him, he shall be imprisoned and starved himself, and whosoever castrates his slave shall himself be castrated." (Abu Dawud, Diyat, 70; Tirmidhi, Diyat, 17; Al-Nasa’i, Qasama, 10, 16). For this reason ‘Umar and his servant took it in turns to ride on the camel from Madina to Jerusalem on their journey to take control of Masjid al-Aqsa. While he was the head of the state, ‘Uthman had his servant pull his own ears in front of the people since he had pulled his. Abu Dharr, applying the hadith literally, made his servant wear one half of his suit while he himself wore the other half. From these instances, it was being demonstrated to succeeding generations of Muslims, and a pattern of conduct established, that a slave is fully a human being, not different from other people in his need for respect and dignity and justice.

Muslims were encouraged by their faith to enter into agreements and contracts which enabled slaves to earn or be granted their freedom at the expiry of a certain term or, most typically, on the death of the owner. Unconditional emancipation was, naturally, regarded as the most meritorious kind, and worthiest of recognition in the life hereafter. There were occasions when whole groups of people, acting together, would buy and set free large numbers of slaves in order to obtain thereby the favour of God.

There is not a single verse in the Quran that says "Slavery is forbidden" just like there isn't a verse in the Quran that says "Alcolhol is forbidden" but all Muslims know that alcohol is haram and forbidden in Islam.  However, there are several verses which refer to the freeing of slaves as an act of righteouness and for the purification of sins, this means that eventually the slave industry ( in the context of what it was back then ) would have died out. If every religion or culture had the right to enslave another because it was not forbidden to do so then that would lead to chaos and revolts.....it is human conciousness that has made the practise redundant ( that is in the form in which it was formally practised and not the economic slavery that exists today ie Vulture Capitalism ) ..and this human conciousness is consistent with the Quranic verses on FREEING slaves. The Quran aknowledged the practise but did not encourage it but rather the freeing of slaves and equated the freeing of slaves as a righteous act....now ask yourself that question...why do you think Allah has encouraged the Freeing of slaves?????think about it!.and then think again! As there is NOT A SINGLE statement in the Qur’an, whereby believers are commanded to enslave other human beings, and as the Qur’an has called for freeing of slaves as a meritorious act, alleviated their status by way of marriage as well as economic support, and declared that servitude is due to God alone (51:56) and no human being, no matter how high a status he may occupy,  has the right to say to people ‘be my slaves’ (3:79), it is wrong to suggest that the Book sanctions slavery.

The great genius of our religion, and one of the great truths of our Prophet saw is that he came as a mercy to everyone. He created multi-ethnic and multi-cultural societies. He had all types of people: Persians, Romans, Africans, Arabs from different tribes and he brought them into a fraternity of mercy. He had Jews and Christians and he honored them, and spoke to them kindly. He was not a harsh person, he was a gentle person. He created an open society. Our religion honors people and treats them with dignity and that is something you can not change!

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