Modern day Slavery? Still a problem in the 21st century? Really? Even here in North America?
The truth is there are more slaves in North America today than there were 200 years ago, more slaves around the world today than there have ever been before, and the illegal trafficking of human beings -- the slave trade -- continues unabated, ongoing since the dawn of history.
As you read this, throughout the world, more than 30 million of our fellow human beings are living as the humiliated property of others, human beings who can be bought and sold as commodities like cattle, forced to work as child-soldiers, serfs, servants and sex-trade workers.
But the IMAM -- the International Muslim Abolitionist Movement -- believes that true compliance to Muhammad's example demands that slavery in all its evil forms must come to an end, and that Muslims serious about living their lives as God's servants should be striving to make that happen today.
But aren't religions part of the problem? Most of our faiths have been used to justify slavery in the past, so what's changed? And while we're at it why haven't religions condemned slavery since the very beginning of time?
The answer to all those questions is that slavery once had a purpose, serving as a slightly less evil alternative to death by starvation or execution, the two common ancient consequences to losing a war. That's why instead of condemning it outright, most religions merely regulated and moderated slavery's worst abuses.
However, it is long past time we moved beyond that dark chapter of human history, and long past time for all believers to take more of a stand. Because on this issue we can unquestionably stand together. In fact, slavery's evolving status throughout our world's religions actually confirms the consistent nature of God's progressive revelation, delivered through myriad messengers, speaking at different times to a diverse world.
For instance, Judaism began among those wrongly enslaved, when Joseph's brothers sold him into Egypt. Decades after he had been freed and had brought his family to live alongside him, when Egypt turned against their Hebrew brethren and enslaved them under the Pharaohs, Moses led them out of Egypt to become God's people instead.
So even though slavery had a place in the laws of Judaism and Christianity, God's guiding principle was implicit to the history of the Jews themselves: as the children of slaves, they knew there could be no difference in an individual's ultimate value whether slave or free before God or man.
Centuries later, Christianity's revelation came at a time when that important truth had not yet been given to Israel's Roman overlords. And again, rather than condemning the practice, Christianity merely confirmed Judaism's lesson to a wider audience, and eventually changed the Roman world as well.
But what do you do when you ARE the overlord? That's the piece of the puzzle Islam answers because, throughout human history, our human tendency has been to ignore all of our myriad faith's egalitarian leanings -- something you can find in each if you look for it -- and devalue and humiliate those following different faiths, or even following our own faith in what we think are different ways, whenever we've thought we could get away with it.
So what does the Quran say about slavery? Rather than promoting the taking of slaves, the Quran promoted their freedom and proclaimed their equal status to their masters under God. The Quran declared that slaves had rights and that masters had a responsibility to protect them, and it made freeing a slave worthy of eternal reward.
What did Muhammad say about slavery? That slave and free were brethren, and that female slaves in particular should be protected, respected, educated, and either married or freed outright.
How did the earliest Muslims treat slaves? Following Muhammad's example they helped, cared for and freed them, listened to, learned from and included them, respecting their contributions to the community of Islam.
Muhammad's immediate household personally freed almost 40,000 slaves alone.
What do Muslim scholars say about slavery? That the natural state of humanity is freedom, and that slavery is an abhorrent aberration. Rather than merely the gradual eradication of slavery, all scholars agree that Muslims should seek to eradicate the discriminatory injustice that is slavery's root cause as well.
So what does al-Shariah -- an Arabic phrase that means "the well trodden path to the waterhole" that has come to mean Islamic law as well -- say about slavery?
Well, it really depends which sharia you're talking about.
Because al-Shariah, the path Muhammad and his companions walked led toward a world without slavery, something every modern day scholar will happily confirm. But after they passed away, later Muslims who saw their slave-count dwindling decided they didn't like it. So they "tweaked" the rules just a little, just enough maintain their access to fresh slaves.
And whenever that happens, whenever Muslims put their own ambitions ahead of true fidelity to the path of Islam -- that leads us to serve God by serving His Creation, albeit in different roles -- and instead misdirect al-Shariah to serve their own dark desires instead, they turn their man-made so-called sharia laws into an abomination.
However, personally, I think the most important lesson al-Shariah teaches us is that the life of faith is a journey, and no matter how far down a path you've gone in the wrong direction, you can change it back into a righteous path just by turning yourself around.
And quite frankly, it's long past time for Muslims who honestly love Islam, sharia and Muhammad's legacy to fix those abuses and begin to take sharia back for Muhammad's exemplary Islam!
Because the message of the Quran, the Sunnah (the acts and words of Muhammad), Islam's wise scholars and the Salaf (early Islam's first three generations) is clear: Muslims should have ended slavery long ago.
So if you are a Muslim who loves Islam and strives to honor Muhammad's true legacy of justice, peace and freedom for all humankind, then please join the IMAM to say a prayer for freedom for the sake of all humankind on the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery (Friday, Dec. 2), and help us take a step toward ending slavery and oppression and injustice throughout the world today.
Follow Dr. David Liepert on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DrDavidLiepert
BBC - Religions - Islam: Slavery in Islam
Believers forget that if God loves them warts and all, then God must love everyone else too.
Non-believers in turn forget that even if they don't believe in anything greater than themselves, they must still acknowledge that we're all equally human, and deserve to be treated that way.
Ending slavery together is a good place to start, I think.
http://www.usvetdsp.com/jan07/jeff_quran.htm
Honestly Joe, in 1785 every nation was a slaver nation. What we need to address today is that today, every nation REMAINS a slaver nation, either by hiding slavery in other forms, or by doing it openly while claiming some form of perverse divine or cultural or ancestrally approved permission.
We can't fix yesterday, but we can still fix tomorrow.
For your information, the Barbary were pirates who also mistreated and killed other Muslims. They were much a representation of Islam as pirates from European countries were representation of Christianity.
Above-all, since when in our so-called civilized world do we take a group of barbarian as an authority of any religion for that matter. Do you think it will be fair to Christians that one look for explanation of their faith at the crusaders actions or words.?
In any study of historical wrongs we have to make comparisons to understand the degree of rights and wrongs and to comprehend which philosophy did the most to eliminate the wrongs.
Slavery didn't start with Islam, but Islam is the religion that ended it!
Please visit "Human Equality and Liberation of Slaves"
(http://www.answering-christianity.com/human.htm) in Islam to see the Islamic attitude toward freeing slaves.
Note: Only in Islam's Noble Quran (scripture) and Sayings of our beloved Prophet you find direct commands to freeing slaves
(http://www.answering-christianity.com/human.htm).
Show me one Bible verse that directly orders its followers to buy slaves and free them? Only Islam did that.
http://www.khyber.demon.co.uk/history/africa/slavery.htm
...It was this Church that initially ordered the slavery of Africans - the Africans who were enslaved were Muslims!
In 1457, the Council of Cardinals met in Holland where they sanctioned, as a righteous and progressive idea, the enslavement of Africans for the purpose of their conversion to Christianity and exploitation in the labor market as chattel property.
Now, let's return to a discussion of Muslim's modern day responsibility to live up to the example of our prophet and the commands of our Creator to end slavery.
Yes, we should have done it centuries ago, and yes, some Muslims stepped off al-Shariah seeking a path that retained their rights to slaves, but we have a chance to change that if we choose.
This is characteristic behavior.
Criticism should be directed against the Kuwaiti activist or the mufti she consulted, not the person who brings to light the speech.
http://www.translatingjihad.com/2011/06/video-kuwaiti-activist-i-hope-that.html
http://www.translatingjihad.com/2011/07/kuwaiti-female-activist-calls-for-law.html
http://www.jstor.org/pss/25188289
Published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (12:3) and entitled "Hindus Beyond The Hindu Kush: Indians in the Central Asian Slave Trade," it begins:
"Analyses of slavery in Indian generally emphasize the escalation of this social institution during the era of Muslim domination in north India.(1) The present study is not an exception to this rule... it is argued here that the expansion of slavery in Muslim India is an important component of medieval and early modern history of the region...
No nation including India could boast that it had no slave trade in its history. Here is part Indian history on slaves. Considering the progress of civilization, modern day slavery of Dalits in india is a more serious religious problem as religion honours it as per scriptures ( call it social if you like)
The primary relevant textual source attributed to this period is the Arthasastra whose author is given to be Kautilya (or Viṣṇugupta). Arthasastra provides some important clues on the extent and nature of slavery about 2000 years ago.
Apart from scattered references, the main relevant portion is chapter 13, book III, which discusses slavery under the significant title "rules regarding slaves and labourers".
The sale or mortgage of the life of an Arya is only conditionally permitted under legal court orders or to recover legal costs or combat financial hardships of the family or clan, by kinsmen only of the sold. The definition of "Arya" in this context is clearly stated to include all castes, (including Shudras).
Slavery also appears to have been of limited duration or of temporary status, as only specific conditions are given for slavery for life.
Medhatithi observes that 'the captive of war' mentioned by the Manu Smriti does not refer to the Ksatriya made captive in war but to the slave who after the defeat of his owner is brought over and enslaved by the captor.
Any argument from any quarter for ending slavery is welcome.
The next abomination to eliminate: Killing in the service of any god.
Justification for such acts was often provided through the use of careful selection of scripture from the vast plethora of Hindu religious literature.
The purported slavery-like status of the lower Castes, while distinct from others as in ownership - nonetheless permitted freedom for them. Hindus and scholars debate whether the caste system is an integral part of Hinduism sanctioned by the scriptures or an outdated social custom.
The most ancient scriptures place little importance on caste and indicate social mobility (Rig Veda 9.112.3), while later scriptures such as the non sacred Manusmriti state that the four varnas are created by God, implying immutability. Manusmriti, (dated between 200 BCE and 100 CE), contains laws that codified the caste system, reducing the flexibility of social mobility and excluding the untouchables from society, yet this system was originally non-heritable (Manu Smriti X:65). It is uncertain when the caste system become heritable and akin to slavery.
British colonialists, in the 19th century, exploited these divisions by mistranslating scriptures in Hinduism (such as the Manusmriti) and attaching undue weight to its importance over other more normative religious scripture in the religion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_and_religion
Latcho Drom clip: http://youtu.be/FV8trqxz2t0
Whole film: http://www.veoh.com/watch/v630488799aG95g7?h1=Latcho+Drom
Read more @: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_people#Origins
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_India
Can anyone think that little children, women trafficking is also in India VIA Islamic Invasion?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_India
And ALL Muslims are like robots. They all think and act alike.
The fact of the matter is that only the Qur`an speaks for Islam and provides an outline of it, for it is the only book that is considered by the Muslims to be the Word of God without any human corruption in it..
Anything that doesn't fit the Qur`anic framework is un-Islamic!
So, we can judge Muslim actions by using the Qur`an as the litmus.
What also amazes me is that Muslims are told over and over and over and over and over again to reform the Shari'ah.
So when good, educated and enlightened Muslims, like Dr. David Liepert, make any effort to do so, they are severly criticized and discouraged.
Well, I encourage Dr. David Liepert not to be discouraged and keep up his excellent work.
Sometimes by Koran, sometimes by Hadith, sometimes by Shariah, sometimes by whatever their cleric happen to tell them, sometimes by what any given politician's ( like say Ahmadinejad, Sheikh Omar, Erdogan et al) interpretation of above-mentioned.
And yeah, these ARE the major sources of influence in Islamic countries upon Muslims who live therein- religious doctrine.
Um... your posts DIRECTLY contradict it.
Many authoritative Muslim scholars would find your talking points frankly blasphemous and entirely disconnected from Koranic doctrine.
Please keep up your good work! Many of us fully appreciate and enjoy your articles and look forward to them.
They are illuminating, well researched, sober, rational, and loving.
Please don't let these negative comments discourage you.
Many, many thanks,
Take good care of yourself.
“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 travelling alien, the beggars, and to FREE THE SLAVES; and they observe the Prayers 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
Chapter.90:V.10-13,
Charities shall go to the poor, the needy, the workers who collect them...., TO FREE THE SLAVE, to those burdened by sudden expenses, in the cause of GOD, and to the travelling alien. Such is GOD's commandment. GOD is Omniscient, Most Wise.
Allah will not call you to account for what is futile in your oaths, but He will call you to account for your deliberate oaths: for expiation, feed ten indigent persons, on a scale of the average for the food of your families; or clothe them; or GIVE A SLAVE HIS FREEDOM. If that is beyond your means, fast for three days. That is the expiation for the oaths ye have sworn. But keep to your oaths. Thus doth Allah make clear to you His signs, that ye may be grateful
The re-integration process began in Mecca, and was highlighted by Abu Bakr buying and freeing Bilal, who was severely tortured for proclaiming Divine Unity, to the point where he was laid on extremely hot sand with a heavy rock on him so he couldn't move.
His skin and whatever fat his body had would burn and melt.
Despite the severe physical suffering, he would utter the word "Ahad!" "Ahad!" ("One", "One", referring to The One and only Reality).
Abu Mas'ud al-Ansari reported:
"When I was beating my servant, I heard a voice behind me (saying): Abu Mas'ud, bear in mind Allah has more dominance over you than you have upon him. I turned and (found him) to be Muhammad
I said: Allah's Messenger, I set him free for the sake of Allah.
Thereupon he said: Had you not done that, Hell would have opened for you, or the fire would have burnt you. ( Sahih Muslim, The Book of Oaths (Kitab Al-Aiman), Book 015, Number 4088)"
If a Muslim beats his slave or slaps him on the face, then he must set him free:
Narrated Al-Ma'rur: At Ar-Rabadha I met Abu Dhar who was wearing a cloak, and his slave, too, was wearing a similar one.
I asked about the reason for it. He replied, "I abused a person by calling his mother with bad names."
The Prophet said to me, 'O Abu Dhar! Did you abuse him by calling his mother with bad names You still have some characteristics of ignorance.
Your slaves are your brothers and Allah has put them under your command. So whoever has a brother under his command should feed him of what he eats and dress him of what he wears.
Do not ask them (slaves) to do things beyond their capacity (power) and if you do so, then help them.'
Sahih Bukhari,, Book 2, Number 29)
Islam set in motion procedures to free the slaves and re-integrate them into society. Many slaves then became rulers.
The most famous slave was Bilal who was tortured by the deniers of the Truth and bought and freed by AbuBakr, the founder of a Sufi Order that still exists today.
If there are UN resolutions to ban slavery, the Muslim nations should sign them.
"So what does the Quran say about slavery? Rather than promoting the taking of slaves, the Quran promoted their freedom and proclaimed their equal status to their masters under God. The Quran declared that slaves had rights and that masters had a responsibility to protect them, and it made freeing a slave worthy of eternal reward"
That's nice, but is there somewhere where is says slavery is just downright wrong and don't do it ? Sounds like the koran is saying it would be nice if you didn't own slaves, and it would be nice to free them, but if you don't, make sure you treat them nice.
My own grandfather saw with his eyes Arab slave traders in North Africa marching black people in chains to Arabia to sell in markets.....and that was the 1960s!