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Selling Of Slave Women
Jabir bin `Abdullah was heard to say:“We used to sell our slave women and the mothers of our children (Umahat Awaldina) when the Prophet (ﷺ) was still living among us, and we did not see anything wrong with that.”Reference : Sunan Ibn Majah 2517In-book reference : Book 19, Hadith 6English translation : Vol. 3, Book 19, Hadith 2517
Why did Prophet Muhammad PBUH allow such things to happen when he was living amongst them?
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11 Replies
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Selling Of Slave Women
updated 2 years, 5 months ago
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11
Replies
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Who said slavery is categorically evil or reprehensible ?
The conditions placed by Islam prohibited Muslims from abusing a slave and ensured equal treatment as far as material needs were concerned. The only way to enslave a person was through war and this too was only applicable on Non-Muslims. The institute of slavery ensured the losing side didn’t perish completely. It also served to reduce the spread of prostitution and other elicit practices which the defeated people were forced to undergo when they suffered a loss in a war.
In the present age, people employ maids who have to live away from their children and they only pay a minimum wage. This is worse than slavery in my understanding. As the slave owners fed, clothed, married, provided shelter to the slave they owned. They were also responsible for taking care of the slave’s children. The present day wage slavery, IMF debt induced slavery is million times worse as it destroys an entire nation whereas slavery in the past preserved the defeated tribe from perishing. Look at the history of Muslims, you will find slaves rising to the position of a king and establishing their own empire. The Mamluks provide an excellent example. The Sultanate of Women in the case of Ottoman Empire is another excellent example of slave girls rising to a position of power and influence. We should really examine our bias and see if the world is really a better place right now or not. I have come to the conclusion that the time of the Prophet (pbuh) (his community) was the best of mankind.
You should also step back and think for a moment. Morality comes from God and he instilled the sense of good and evil in us. We are in no position to judge the acts of the Prophet (pbuh) or the acts approved by the Prophet (pbuh) and the commands of God by our subjective, changing , historical cultural criteria.
Islam was prepared to abolish to institute of slavery if the international community came into an agreement to stop the practice of slavery. Suppose Islam suddenly prohibited slavery, this would be absurd as you would see Muslims being enslaved and yet not being allowed to own slaves themselves. God knew humanity wasn’t prepared to abolish slavery at the time of the Prophet (pbuh) and for this reason, many incentives were placed to encourage freeing of slaves, to ensure good treatment. The trajectory hermeneutics of Islam shows it prepared the mind for the eventual abolishment of slavery.
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We are in no position to judge the acts of the Prophet (pbuh) or the acts approved by the Prophet (pbuh) and the commands of God by our subjective, changing , historical cultural criteria.
If we can’t question acts of Prophet pbuh then we can’t question anything in the religion if we can’t question anything in the religion then whatever faith or sect we are born into is the right one and others are wrong, then also there is no need of using your intellect as you can’t question commands of God or actions of prophet.
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You missed my point. You need a moral framework to judge what’s right from wrong. Whilst there is an understanding of good and evil in us, it’s often blurred by personal , cultural and historical bias.
The rest of my answer which you haven’t quoted explains why your perspective is flawed and why you shouldn’t be surprised by the Prophet (pbuh) not abolishing slavery.
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You should also step back and think for a moment. Morality comes from God and he instilled the sense of good and evil in us. We are in no position to judge the acts of the Prophet (pbuh) or the acts approved by the Prophet (pbuh) and the commands of God by our subjective, changing , historical cultural criteria.
Here it is, if morality comes from god and he instilled it in us even then i find it evil and reprehensible while you don’t, so did God instill different morality in me and you?
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Your opinion doesn’t matter because we know it for a fact the century we are living in is the best time the mankind has ever experienced. We have made our lives better in many ways. Humans are exploring universe and creating new things on daily basis. The life expectancy has increased. So there is no debate about which time is better.
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No and No. I don’t even know where to begin.
“Your opinion doesn’t matter because we know it for a fact the century we are living in is the best time the mankind has ever experienced. We have made our lives better in many ways. Humans are exploring universe and creating new things on daily basis. The life expectancy has increased. So there is no debate about which time is better.”
You clearly love the idea of progress and you can’t think beyond science but the worst of all, you are blinded by materialism. Scientific facts can’t tell you the purpose of life, they don’t address moral questions and they can’t even touch the horizons of religion. Impersonal facts of nature have nothing to do with us individually.
Only a few , 1% of mankind is capable of mastering mathematics and science to the point they can understand the universe. It’s pretentious to assume everyone is studying science and is capable of understanding the latest research work being carried out. Most of people don’t have the technical knowledge to tell truth from falsehood in science. I can tell for a fact, you and most people here can’t solve problems in General Relativity or Quantum Electrodynamic.
For you, the standard with which we judge a civilization should be restricted to the acquisition of material goods, an ever growing body of scientific knowledge that’s constantly being refuted and unstable, consumerism, destruction of the planet, nuclear weapons and technology prepared to wipe out or enslave mankind. What’s so great about it ? We are suffering greatly after being separated from mother nature. The modern man suffers from alienation, depression and nihilism. People have the most advanced Technology in their hands but they have the emotional maturity of a toddler.
Modernity has destroyed the moral fabric of our society and made truth a social construct and every few years, they are constantly reinventing what constitutes truth and straying away from the path of God to every kind of philosophy under the sun, from communism to capitalism, from liberalism to fascism.
For me, this world is a temporary place and our relation to God as an individual and as a community takes precedence over everything. The companions of the Prophet (pbuh) established a society that was in conformity with divinely revealed law, human nature, worldly and spiritual needs.
In the hadith, Narrated `Abdullah:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “The best people are those of my generation, and then those who will come after them (the next generation), and then those who will come after them (i.e. the next generation), and then after them, there will come people whose witness will precede their oaths, and whose oaths will precede their witness.”
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Abolishment of slavery slowly doesn’t make any sense just because Muslims would still be slaves and Muslims wouldn’t have any slaves is the reason and another one given by ghamidi sahab is that slaves would have no place to go to or live in but both of these reasons are not enough to justify sex slavery. Two wrongs don’t make right.
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Abolishment of slavery slowly doesn’t make any sense just because Muslims would still be slaves and Muslims wouldn’t have any slaves is the reason and another one given by ghamidi sahab is that slaves would have no place to go to or live in but both of these reasons are not enough to justify sex slavery. Two wrongs don’t make right.
You have missed the point once more. If you are not allowed to own slaves and the rest of the world is still running the institution of slavery. You are placed at a great disadvantage from the perspective of a community. If this was the case, the majority of early Muslims would have been enslaved and wiped out of existence. Just as war isn’t good but if your enemy attacks, you are left with no choice but to go at war with him. The same is the case with slavery and it’s an agreement related to war. You don’t understand how tribal society functioned. It isn’t a matter of two wrongs don’t make one right. It’s a matter of not placing the Muslim community at a serious strategic numerical disadvantage
As for the argument given by Javed Ghamidi, it makes sense. The institute of slavery provided shelter and a means of food, clothing, security, marriage to many downtrodden people in society
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Who said slavery is categorically evil or reprehensible ?
WOW… There is no need to say it. When something is evil and reprehensible it is no matter what. Why on earth would someone ever want to become a slave willingly? If it’s not willingly then it is indeed reprehensible and the act is evil. If it wasn’t evil then even steady abolishment which i find questionable shouldn’t have been done because “Who said slavery is categorically evil or reprehensible?”
The conditions placed
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This is not how morality works. The act of taking the life of a person isn’t evil in of itself. If a murderer is hanged, it is an act of justice and good. If an innocent individual is killed, then it’s evil. The conditions make an act evil or good
That’s why slavery with the conditions of Islam is acceptable but without such conditions, it is evil. We need to understand the principles of fiqh and moral philosophy.
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Imran Sahab ( @Saifullah ), Certain portions of your last comment have been edited to make it more polite. I hope you will be more polite next time.
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