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after one of my lectures about Islam at
the American University in Washington DC
a young man stood up and asked me
candidly couldn't your Prophet have been
as Brave as Abraham Lincoln who both
boldly signed into law a bill by
Congress outlawing slavery abruptly
stating that starting tomorrow there
would be no slavery no slaves get me one
verse from the Quran or one single
saying of your Prophet that clearly
abolishes slavery actually if we want to
talk about this issue we must first talk
about how slavery was outlawed in the
United States Abraham Lincoln is a great
man he's one of the Great American
president president he is the American
president who by a simple stroke of the
pen signed into law a bill enacted by
Congress effectively Banning slavery
starting from the very next day however
the events preceding that must not be
forgotten when Lincoln who was known for
his anti-slavery ideas was elected the
fear of southern states that abolition
of slavery could be forced upon them had
led them to secede from the union this
resulted in a civil war that lasted for
4 years and left half a million dead and
around another half a million injured
and handicapped here of course any
American can argue saying well this is
the price of freedom I have absolutely
no problem with the idea of a million
people dying for the sake of Freedom
Algeria in fact sacrificed 1 and a half
million Martyrs for the sake of freedom
but the true problem is that solving
issues that are so deeply ingrained in
soci Society in such an Abrupt manner
can actually lead to huge problems more
than a century after the law abolishing
slavery came into effect blacks in the
United States still couldn't sit on
seats designated for whites on public
transportation they would still have to
stand in long lines to get a drink of
water from water fountains designated
for the colored while the water
fountains for whites were vacant and no
one would dare go and use them a friend
friend of mine in North Virginia an
African-American called Imam jawhari
Malik tells me how things were when he
was young and traveling from state to
state with his family by car when he and
the other kids of the family said they
were hungry his father would stop at the
nearest restaurant and go to the service
door and get them some sandwiches from
the kitchen a black man would not dare
enter the restaurant through the main
entrance like white people and order
food that was in the 60s 100 years after
the abolition of slavery by the law
finally however things have changed
finally the day has come when Americans
have elected an African-American for
president in 2008 President Obama was
elected and the Americans are proud of
that and they should be proud of that
achievement however when I reflected on
that I realized that 40 years ago in
Egypt we actually had a black president
president sadad for 10 years and we
never even noticed it this is because of
the way Islam dealt with the issue of
slavery if you try to deal with slavery
directly by Banning it then you are
dealing with a symptom not with the
disease itself the symptom is slavery
while the disease is racism Islam came
and fixed the problem of racism through
Islamic Creed particularly through the
concept of the original sin if we ask
any Christian about the original sin he
will definitely tell us that it occurred
when Adam was seduced by Eve to eat from
The Forbidden tree consequently sin
entered into the world and according to
Christian theology that led eventually
to the crucifixion of Jesus and so forth
but when we look at this concept in
Islam we find a totally different
version of the account of original sin
in Islam the sin of Adam is not
mentioned as the very first sin in
history therefore it is not the original
sin there was a sin that happened prior
to that and that was the sin of Satan
himself Satan rejected the command of
God by refusing to prostrate to Adam
whom Allah had created and in whom he
bestowed superiority of knowledge and
placed as his trustee on Earth so that
Adam would rule over it with Justice
when God blamed Satan in the Quran
saying why didn't you prostrate yourself
to the one that I created as I commanded
you Satan said I am better than him you
created me from fire and you created him
from clay I am white and he's black I am
European and he is Arab I am Arab and he
is Indian isn't it the same therefore
the original sin according to Islam is
not a fruit that was eaten from a tree
but rather racism and the challenge that
faces each and every one of us is not to
think himself or herself Superior
because of his race color or sex god
drove him out from Paradise as a
punishment for his racism essentially
saying get out from Paradise you cannot
act as a racist here or literally as the
Quran says you cannot act arrogantly
here and he was not arrogant because he
was rich or beautiful but rather for his
race therefore in Islam racism is the
original sin and racists have no place
in Paradise therefore believing that
slavery itself is the problem is in
itself the very problem but when Islam
focused on dealing with racism as the
root cause we saw the creation of an
amazing generation when the first
platoon of the Muslim Army entered Egypt
a few years after the death of the
Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him they
were asked by the ruler of Egypt Who was
appointed by the Roman byzantines to
present their leader to him so they
presented to
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him and the Roman leader was shocked to
see that the man they had brought forth
was a black man a man whom they
considered to be their leader and their
teacher talking about slavery we need to
know that Islam did not come in order to
sanction slavery on the contrary it came
in order to promote emancipation it is
UN unfair to blame Islam for a problem
that it did not start when Islam came
into the world it found the world
already split into Masters and slaves so
nobody can blame Islam for that State of
Affairs the issue of slavery was deeply
rooted in all societies including Europe
Islam aimed to fix the problem of
slavery without causing a major upheaval
in society it wanted to avoid a rift in
society last year I bought a book from
entitled sick from Freedom written by
Jim DS in which he recovers the untold
story of one of the bitterest ironies in
American history that the emancipation
of the slaves seen as one of the great
turning points in US history had
devastating consequences at least 25% of
the freed people died in the first year
after their emancipation out of
starvation and diseases Islam avoided
all that when it promoted equality
between all Races and aimed to make all
kind of people whites blacks Indians and
Arabs love one another instead of
prohibiting slavery from outside it
inhibited Freedom as the default status
from inside Islam basically looked at
slavery as though it were a river that
was widening and gaining magnitude
because the number of slaves was always
increasing it found that this this River
was constantly being fed through seven
main sources the First Source was War
when people went to war prisoners of War
became slaves the Second Source was
kidnappings people could be kidnapped
and made into slaves one famous example
is
z neither of whose parents had been
slaves but who had been kidnapped and
sold into slavery the third Source was
deaths in some societies previous to
Islam if someone had a debt and was
unable to pay it back on time it was
common practice that this person would
become a slave to the lender the fourth
Source was the setting of one's children
people were allowed to sell their
children so if someone for example had
10 children and couldn't provide for
them he could easily liquidate a couple
of them the fifth there was also a
practice of offering oneself to someone
as a slave a man or a woman could go to
someone and say I'm offering myself to
you as a slave just feed me and give me
shelter and I will be your slave the
sixth source of slavery was punishment
for certain crimes if someone committed
a certain crime against someone else and
was caught he could become a slave to
the person the crime was committed
against the seventh source is slavery by
heredity if someone is born from Slave
parents he or she becomes a slave or if
someone is born from a slave mother they
still can become a slave even though the
father can be a free man a good example
of that is the famous Arab poet Shad who
was the slave of his own father just
because his mother was a concubine and
his color was black so Islam examined
these seven sources and closed all of
them but two these two sources were left
to be opened or closed according to need
for example in war Islam stated that
prisoners of War should not be taken as
slaves except in one situation if the
opposing Army practiced enslaving those
caught as prisoners of war in that case
we would have to enter into war on the
basis of reciprocal conditions and equal
treatment it would be unfair for our
soldiers to enter into war
knowing that if they were caught as
prisoners they would be enslaved for
Life whereas the opposing troops entered
into war relaxed and secure in the
knowledge that they were fighting kind
and decent people who would never
enslave anyone they caught so here Islam
was doing a sort of modification in
international law the message to the
opposing armies was in effect saying be
decent and do not enslave any prisoners
of War to so that we too are not forced
to do the same to your troops that's why
we find that the Muslims did in fact
enslave the prisoners in the Battle of
Ben because Ben must used to enslave
prisoners of War but on the other hand
not one prisoner from quraysh was ever
enslaved in any battle because quraysh
did not practice in Saving prisoners of
War so Islam put forth a certain system
for dealing with prisoners of War
God Almighty says in Surah Muhammad when
you meet the non-believers in battle
strike their necks until you have
subdued them take them as captives and
then either you free them out of
generosity or let them Ransom themselves
until the war lays down its burdens in
other words after you take prisoners of
War you can either exercise generosity
and let them go free or you can exchange
them for your own prisoners
or if none of your troops are being held
you can ask for a ransom in order to
make up for the costs of the war all of
these are legitimate options but
prisoners of War according to this verse
should not be enslaved or killed
Scholars allowed executing war criminals
but not PS one of the major issues
surrounded by much controversy is how
Islam allows relationships between slave
girls and their Masters or what is known
historically as
concubines first of all the idea of
having concubines or a sexual
relationship with a slave girl similar
to a marital relationship and having
children with her all of that was common
practice that was acceptable in society
before Islam in the whole world not just
in Arabia when Islam came there were two
possible Alternatives in dealing with
this issue either to ban it or to use it
as a way of ending slavery if Islam had
banded and that would definitely have
served some good because you are
preventing this relationship if that had
been the case then the only way for
slaves to fulfill their sexual desires
would have been for them to marry each
other so in that case every slave girl
would marry a male slave and in a few
years each slave couple would have a
number of beautiful little slave
children and in that way the number of
slaves would increase again and the
river of slavery we talked about would
grow even more so Islam actually allowed
this relationship between the Masters
and their slave girls to continue but
within certain rules first of all if the
slave girl gave birth to her master's
child she would no longer be sold or
bestowed upon someone as she would be
promoted to become from there on the
children's Mother her children too would
be free like their father so this was
one source that was redirected so that
it poured into the river of Freedom
rather than into that of slavery a lot
of people were born free in that way
their mothers were slaves but they were
free and their mothers became free as
well just because they were born to a
father who was free before Islam there
were slaves owned by their own fathers
because their mothers were slaves like
the famous poet Anar Shad which I
mentioned before so in that way Islam
was able to reduce the inflow of the
river and therefore the river diminished
and the number of slaves decreased but
Islam also aimed at quickly draining the
river of slaves so it opened many drains
through which the water in this River
could be quickly dispersed one of these
drains was encouraging the freeing of
slaves as a way of qualifying to go to
paradise God says and what way will help
you on the Steep path it is freeing
someone's neck that is freeing a slave
the Steep path or obstacle here refers
to what we must pass through in order to
get into heaven well what if someone
didn't happen to have a slave the answer
was to go to the slave market buy a
slave or more according to what one can
afford and free them right away in order
to qualify for going to heaven according
to the Quran in addition Islam said that
one of the legitimate venues for
spending arms money or zaka were to use
it in freeing slaves the Quran says arms
are for the poor and the needy and for
those employed to administer the funds
for those who have recently become
Believers for those in bondage and those
in debt and in the cause of God and for
the wayf farer so that meant that at the
time set each year for paying on known
in Arabic as zaka a man could go to the
slave market and use the money he had
put aside for arms in order to buy
slaves then free them immediately in
that way arms money was used to free
slaves freeing slaves also came to be
used as a form of atonement for a number
of sins for example if someone breaks
his fast in Ramadan without a legitimate
cause the first option he had in order
to atone for his sin would be freeing a
slave if he couldn't find any slaves to
free then other forms of atonement could
be implemented another example is
accidental killing of someone the Quran
says a Believer should not kill another
believer except by mistake and who
soever kills a Believer by mistake it is
ordained that he must free a believing
slave this means that to begin with one
should not kill except by mistake such
as in car accidents for example what
should a person do in that case he he or
she should free a slave this form of
atonement is very significant because it
implies that in Islam Freedom equals
life you have taken someone's life by
accident so you must give life to a dead
person how by granting freedom to
someone deprived from Freedom the most
wonderful method for freeing slaves
though is what is called the
Emancipation agreement this was an
Islamic Innovation that was used in
order to free slave
it equated between slaves and their
masters and told them they could sit
together and write a contract between
them both enabling the slave to gain his
freedom in exchange for a certain amount
of money to be paid to the master and
this amount is stated in this agreement
and cannot be increased by the master
later on so the slave can work after
hours or borrow money and buy his own
Freedom incidentally this method was
used by Muslim slaves in America to gain
their freedom there was a famous slave
in the United States called Abdul aiz he
used to be a Quran teacher in Tanzania
and was kidnapped and sold into slavery
he was sold to a white man in Michigan
one day he came up to his master and
told him why don't you write me a
contract that states what I am worth if
I manag to get you that money in any way
then I would have the right to buy my
freedom his white Master did in fact
write up such a contract and Abdul aiz
was emancipated he then went back to
Tanzania and started sending back more
money and was thus able to free eight of
his children Islam moreover tells the
Muslim master that he must be the first
one to help his own slave gain his
freedom by putting down the first
installment towards his freedom as a
gift in the chapter called the light in
the Quran God Almighty says and those of
your slaves who seek to write an
agreement with you then give them such
an agreement if you know that they are
good and give them something from the
wealth that God has bestowed upon you
that is why within a few years the word
slave started to disappear to be
replaced by another word which appeared
ma or ma for plural this Arabic word was
actually used to denote an ex-slave or
an
exmas so nobody could really know the
difference between them and this is
because many of those freed slaves who
bought their own Freedom when they saw
their masters helping them and putting
the first installment many of them
refused to leave them and insisted to
stay with them and work with them
voluntarily some of these ma or EXs
slaves reached such high regard in
society to the extent that when Omar the
second khif wanted to recommend a
successor before his death he said if
one of the following two people were
alive I would have chosen one of them
with no need for any deliberations and
he mentioned as one of them salm the MAA
or the ex-slave of Abu HUD so in other
words an ex-slave could have easily
become the third khif of the Muslims the
ruler of the Muslim world I want to
point out that Islam also took into
consideration the rights of Masters
because we must not look to Masters as
evil people as long as the law permitted
people to buy and own slaves then buying
a slave could not be considered as a
criminal act so what really happened was
a gradual abolition of slavery in a way
that does not cause a financial disaster
for the Masters too it was a signal to
the Masters that this form of trade was
on its way out it was in effect telling
them get rid of the slaves you have and
do not buy any new ones and who would
want to have a slave when the
regulations of owning them were like
that if you want to have a slave then he
must wear the same quality of clothes
that you wear and eat the same food that
you eat if you get angry at your slave
and slap him then he is automatically
set free well with all these
restrictions tell me who would want a
slave they had become a financial burden
it would be more economic to employ
someone to do any work rather than own a
slave so in this way Islam was able to
deal with this symptom namely slavery in
a way that would get rid of it without
causing a big upheaval in society we
must know that Islam came in order to
promote equality between people in his
last sermon during the pilgrimage
shortly before his death Prophet
Muhammad peace be upon him said oh
people your God is one and your father
Adam is one you all came from Adam and
Adam was made from dust there is no
privilege for an Arab over a non-arab
nor for a white over a black except by
righteousness
aahah
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