What do Islam, Christianity, Judaism, teach about slavery?

Slavery is a very old practice that was gradually abolished in Islam (Submission). Many people out of ignorance or out of biased attack Islam (Submission) for its stand on slavery, distorting and misrepresenting the true stand of Islam (Submission). In this article we will see the great humane position of Islam on slavery.

The central issue of slavery and equality is the concept of human dignity. In Islam, God has conferred honor and dignity on all human beings irrespective of their race, gender, age, social status and beliefs.

In (17:70) God says, “We have honored the children of Adam, and provided them with rides on land and in the sea. We provided for them good provisions, and we gave them greater advantages than many of our creatures.”

Together with human dignity and honor comes freedom to live, the right to be

respected on an equal basis before the law and to enjoy equal social

treatment. Islam (Submission) stresses the equality of mankind as God created man

from a common source and the only allegiance and obedience is to God, the Almighty creator. Islam has never condoned any form of discrimination. The only thing that sets men apart is their righteousness.

[49:13] "O people, we created you from the same male and female, and rendered you distinct peoples and tribes, that you may recognize one another. The best among you in the sight of GOD is the most righteous. GOD is Omniscient, Cognizant."

Slavery has been gradually abolished by Islam, it did not come by decree or injunction but rather in the form of total management principles which were applied during the early periods of Islam and still applicable today if necessary.

Slavery has long been practiced before the coming of Islam (Submission). In the

pre-Islamic Egyptian, Jewish, Greek and Roman societies , slavery was in full use in different aspects. Aristotle subscribed to the idea that men were born not to be equal as some will become master due to their superior brain power and intellectual capacity while others will become slaves.

The approach taken by Islam (Submission) is full of wisdom and at the same time provides a package of pro-active measures to eliminate this practice. It is a gradual but effective approach which combines several affirmative measures. The main strategy is:

To narrow down the sources of slavery with a view to eliminating it all-together; and

OPENING a wide avenue for slaves to gain independence.

People became slaves because of criminal actions, unpaid debts, gambling, kidnapping, piracy, irresponsible parents who sold their children into slavery, being descendants of slaves, prisoners of war and voluntary submission to be a slave in order to get out from the miseries of life such as acute poverty. These were effectively reduced by Islam.

The provision of slavery through wars was no longer important after the Islamic civilization redefined the mode of interaction between nations -- from power struggle to peaceful and productive coexistence. Indirectly but effectively Islam has closed this source of slavery.

Islam (Submission) opened all the doors to free the slaves by setting up rules which greatly facilitated the emancipation of slaves:

The initiative of Islam in promoting independence for slaves was carried out in the following ways:

(1) Encouraging the masters and the Muslim societies at large to help in freeing the slaves. The act of freeing the slave is considered a noble one which is highly valued by God. The slaves themselves entered into an agreement with the master to buy their independence by paying certain amounts of money. The society was encouraged to help in providing the freedom money.

[24:33] “Those who cannot afford to get married shall maintain morality until GOD provides for them from His grace. Those among your servants who wish to be freed in order to marry, you shall grant them their wish, once you realize that they are honest. And give them from GOD's money that He has bestowed upon you. ………”

(2) Making the act of freeing the slave a part of punishment for any criminal act as well as for non-conformity of the Islamic rituals. There are several verses in the Holy Quran which specifically mentioned the requirement of freeing the slave as a way of meeting the punishment for wrongdoing. See 4:92, 5:89 and 58:3

(3) Using Charity money as a financial source to free the slave.

[9:60] Charities shall go to the poor, the needy, the workers who collect them, the new converts, to free the slaves, to those burdened by sudden expenses, in the cause of GOD, and to the traveling alien. Such is GOD's commandment. GOD is Omniscient, Most Wise.

[2:177] “Righteousness is not turning your faces towards the east or the west. Righteous are those who believe in GOD, the Last Day, the angels, the scripture, and the prophets; and they give the money, cheerfully, to the relatives, the orphans, the needy, the traveling alien, the beggars, and to free the slaves; and they observe the Contact Prayers (Salat) and give the obligatory charity (Zakat); and they keep their word whenever they make a promise; and they steadfastly persevere in the face of persecution, hardship, and war. These are the truthful; these are the righteous.”

[90:10-13] Did we not show him the two paths? He should choose the difficult path. Which one is the difficult path? The freeing of slaves.

Finally we can say that Islam found the slavery system already existing and put forward a plan to abolish it.

No slaves or Free the slaves:

Some people question why God in the Quran did not prohibit slavery and instead commanded and rewarded the freeing of the slaves.

God, The Almighty, knows that slavery is a social disease that will persist as long as humans are present on earth. If the order in the Quran is to prohibit slavery, it would be a noble command but since ONLY the believers in the Quran would be the ones following the Quran, the command would not help slavery outside Islam (Submission.) Every Muslim would then free his slaves and remind the other Muslims not to have slaves any more and their duty stop at that. The command in the Quran to FREE THE SLAVES, does not stop at the Muslims or Islam but extend to all the slaves wherever they are. A muslim (Submitter) would therefore free any slaves he might have had and after that turns to any other slaves in any location and of any religion to free, as commanded by God in the Quran. In other words, the command to free the slaves is far more reaching and far more effective than the mere order to stop having slaves.

Van Denburg, a non-Muslim historian says, "Many regulations have been made by Islam, showing how noble was the feeling of the Prophet Muhammad and his followers towards slaves. In those regulations, we find that the merits of Islam are contrary to all the systems used until recently by nations, who claim to be most civilized and developed."

Islam never became a force nor a party that promoted and condoned slavery. A balanced analysis of this issue would recognize the wisdom of Islam in managing the heinous practice of slavery and effectively putting an end to it.

Judaism has many laws concerning slaves. I believe that the only source in the Torah itself is in Behar which talks about the Sabbatical and jubilee years as well as the laws concerning slaves. Here is a like to the wikipedia page about the Parsha (Torah portion) but if you want, just open up a bible and the answers will all be there!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behar

As a historian, I have to disagree with your assessment that Christian scrupules were what stopped slavery. That was the often-repeated pretext, but not the true reason.

The true reason was economic.

Muslims will say its unislamic by rote and that muhammed released many of his own slaves, yet the fact that he had them, particularly female ones(thy right hand possesses) and that he encouraged taking captives from war to his followers as part of the booty ( booty call anyone), spoken of numerous times in hadith , sira and the quran itself, one can inexcapably deduce that islam approved of slavery. and yes they do still practice it in sudan(abid) mauritania and parts of niger.

Christians for centuries condemned each other for abominable practices. Paul remarked "if you deem someone in a transgression , you have the spirit should restore such a one ina spirit of gentleness" as a means to bear each others burdens. Because of this spirit christ open the doors for his followers to chastise and criticize and codemn each other when necessary in order to build upon justice.

Muslims can not question the "truth" as layed down by allah and as such they can onbly offer excuses or deny the obvious. A reformation has been attempted before where muslims engaged in criticsm but they were cast as unbelievers and summarily tortured and killed .

Christian inquisition was horrible, but upon reflection and fighting the catholic church saw its sinful ways.

I hope the same will happen in Islam for the sake of the world.

deep sky is WRONG please don't listen to IT. i think you're not allowed to have SLAVES in Islam. maybe housekeepers and stuff like that, but not slaves and you MUST treat them well.

no matter how well a slave is treated they are still a slave...

all people should be equal period....

NONE OF US IS FREE UNLESS ALL ARE FREE!!!

WHY DO MUSLIM COUNTRIES NOT GRANT EQUAL RIGHTS TO NON MUSLIMS???

islam says Universal Declaration of Human Rights violates islam law

i wish the islamic countries would grant and enforce equal rights to the non muslim inhabitants/citizens of their countries.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

Predominantly Muslim countries, like Sudan, Pakistan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, frequently criticized the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for its perceived failure to take into account the cultural and religious context of non-Western countries. In 1981, the Iranian representative to the United Nations, Said Rajaie-Khorassani, articulated the position of his country regarding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, by saying that the UDHR was "a secular understanding of the Judeo-Christian tradition", which could not be implemented by Muslims without trespassing the Islamic law.[3] However, these criticisms ignore the important historical contributions by writers of Islamic and other Eastern faiths to the development of human rights.[5]

http://www.answers.com/topic/universal-declaration...

http://www.answers.com/topic/human-rights

http://www.un.org/terrorism/

http://www.un.org/terrorism/strategy-counter-terro...

http://www.un.org/

Malaysia women 'suffer apartheid'

The daughter of Malaysia's former prime minister has launched a scathing attack on the roles and status of Muslim women in the country.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4784784.st...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4795808.st...

A matter of tolerance

http://musingwithmarinamahathir.blogspot.com/2006/...

Marina Mahathir

http://musingwithmarinamahathir.blogspot.com/

http://www.iabolish.com/index.html

http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/010...

NAZI IDEOLOGY!!!

Iran: Law would require non-muslim insignia

http://warrenreports.tpmcafe.com/node/29995

Islamic Fundamentalism and the Sex Slave Trade in Iran

http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/iran_sex_slav...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=apartheid+isl...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=apartheid+mus...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=slavery+islam

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=slavery+musli...

muslims justify slavery and piracy…

http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?6bdec278-...

In 1786, Thomas Jefferson, then U.S. ambassador to France, and John Adams, then American Ambassador to Britain, met in London with Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja, the Dey’s ambassador to Britain, in an attempt to negotiate a peace treaty based on Congress’ vote of funding. To Congress, these two future presidents later reported the reasons for the Muslims’ hostility towards America, a nation with which they had no previous contacts.

…that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman (Muslim) who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise.

Sound familiar?

But for a Muslim to keep his word to an infidel at the expense of opportunities to expand Islamic power is the Islamic equivalent of a mortal sin. In 1807, Muslim pirate attacks on American ships began anew. As a result Americans led by President James Madison fought Algerians in the Second Barbary War in 1815, leading to another treaty under which the Muslims paid American $10,000 for damages. The Algerian ruler almost immediately repudiated the new treaty after the U.S. departure and again began piracy and the enslavement of captured Christian sailors necessitating an 1816 Anglo-Dutch shelling of Algiers and ultimately the colonization of Algeria in 1830 and Tunisia in 1881 by France and Libya in 1911 by Italy. By then most of the Islamic world was under Christian domination. With the Ottoman Empire defeated in WW1, secularist Turkish rebels in 1923 overthrew the last Islamic Caliphate,

END ISLAMIC APARTHEID NOW!!!

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i'm gonna answer from an islamic perspective. "how are religion and culture are related?" we can't say that religion and culture aren't related, but this relationship is only allowed when culture derives it's practices from religion. Religion can't follow culture but culture must follow religion, if a certain culture promotes a behaviour that's not against the teachings of God then there should not be a problem, after all our culture helps in defining us, but our religion is exactly who we are, it's our true identity, it comes first, or at least it should. "Can we distinguish a true or original religion from the culture it appears in?" absolutely we can't, not nowadays, people used to follow the rules of religion to the extent and their culture used to be a purely religious one. Now people are just mixing both together and the claim it's all religion, that's what gives religion a bad name. for example, in saudi arabia women are forced to cover their faces and to dress in black, they call it religion, but it's all cultural actually. "Do local cultural traditions provide a necessary context for the expression and development of religious practices through arts, literature, rituals and festivals?" I think they do, i'm not sure of what you mean by "development of religious practices" though, if you mean by it that religion should develop with ages then that's not debatable for it being not allowed is islam. If you mean that people should develop themselves and their relationship with God then that's a must in the first place, expressing religion using art and literature in any form can be quite useful, fulfilling and spiritual. Also it's a form of striving, it's a very respected way to show the whole world what our religion truly represents. Local cultural traditions in our time don't necessarily reflect the true image of religion, again people say they do but in fact they the are furthest they can be from religion. "Is local and regional diversity in the practice of a religion a sign of health for a religious tradition, or is it evidence of a decline of original values?" that's called "living in denial" in my opinion, it's like being not convinced with the "original values" and trying to find a way to change them to suit our needs and desires. The word of God shouldn't.. "MUSTN'T" be changed/developed. Technological, scientific, cultural or any kind of development can't interfere with our relationship with God. if we believe in God and His words, then we should abide by them and we should believe they're for our own good. Diversity and innovations are not allowed in islam. This of course doesn't mean that riding cars is against original values, it only means that whatever is prohibited shouldn't be done/invented/added just because we ASSUME it fits in our 21st century. _______________________________________... edit: christians in my country, and those living in secular nations, tend to separate religion from their lives, they say it's only spiritual and shouldn't get involved in politics, economics, etc.. Also, they don't mind changing their principles to cope with the century, which i find absurd, i'm sure if their religion had any political orders, they would follow them. This is where racism gets involved, politics aren't mentioned in the bible, but they are in the Quran, that's why they say it's wrong to mix religion with politics, this is an example of people living in denial. Same goes with culture, they follow their culture because it suits them best, or as they say it suits our century best, shouldn't the word of God suit our century the best?.. this is an example of christians in my country, i'm not sure about others. I'm not sure about jews but i think they are more attached to religion than christians. _______________________________________... @saladin: Muslims care more about how they dress and what they eat than the true laws of God. LOVE ONE ANOTHER. i totally agree with this one. but our islamic laws have nothing to do with arabs who lived before islam, the rituals/laws or whatever you like to call them are vastly different, the prophet mohammad didn't come to give arabs what they wanted. Some non-muslims say he came to make the conditions of arabs better and to make them more successful, which worked greatly. Now this point makes sense, even though i will forever believe he's a prophet from God. i agree with you that muslims nowadays care about the insignificant things and forget about the major spiritual teachings. They ask questions like "is this and that haram?" which i find irritating. But there's an explanation for this, they're just scared to lead people astray, they want everything to go perfectly in order to obey Allah, they live in the state of mind of "better safe than sorry".. that's why we're not walking with this world, and f we stay like this we'll always stay behind!! as for women being oppressed, i think that's over-rated!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUwgkU-0SNg