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  • Degradation Of Slave Women In Islam (2)

    Posted by Muhammad Sami Uddin on April 26, 2023 at 1:02 pm

    Asselamu aleykum,

    In the Discusson 65212 @travellingmuslim asked many questions regarding the slaves. One of them, make me think about it
    Her question was;

    There is even a narration ( this is supposedly authentic. The person whom i heard this from did not give a source, therefore I cant even look for it to make sure its true or false.) where a Sahabi comes to the prophet PBUH ( or Umar RA, or Abu Bakr RA, not so sure ) and he goes ” I have a slave woman who works for me. One day, I just decided to have sex with her, and now I’m scared that she’s pregnant ” and to this the prophet PBUH had responded, that what ever happens would happen. Turns out, the slave women did become pregnant.

    The problem that I have, is that this Sahaabi has the EXACT same attitude of a present day promiscuous man who has a ONE NIGHT STAND with a none mehram women in today’s time, which we declare HARAAM!

    this Sahaabi DEGRADED this women into being his property and work mule, and then thought, ” oh! She’s right here! And I’m feeling very aroused, So let me just have sex with her real quick, and everything will go back to normal ” and just had sex with her. Then got SCARED because he didn’t want to take RESPONSIBILITY for his actions?! Astagfirrulah!

    There was no mention of this Sahaabi making a milkul yameen contract with the slave women, which insinuates that masters did not need to make commitment of marriage with their female slaves before having sex with them. So they committed ZINA and got away with it, astagfirrulah.

    Not to mention this was a slave woman the man bought as a WORKER. he thought of her as a WORKER, someone he had a business agreement with, no other affiliation with her, until the one time he felt aroused, and forgot that she was his WORKER, not a SPOUSE! He USED her body for pleasure, whilst still calling her his WORKER! This mean he did NOT value her at all! He USED her for SEXUAL PLEASURE, when he wasnt even married to her!

    This Sahabi didn’t even face any consequences, such as being STONED! Our Prophet just calmly said ” oh what ever happens will happen ” without acknowledging the fact that his comapnion committed ZINA!

    Due to her numerous queries in a single discussion, many of her questions including the above one, which i mentioned here was not answered. I am posting that question, because, this question is confusing me, too, that why our Holy Prophet (may Allah the great’s peace and blessings be upon him, his family and his companions) didn’t forbid the Sahabi who did so. There is also the similar hadith (or the same hadith which she was referring to) like this matter (I don’t know the hadith’s reference), in which the Sahabi came to the Prophet and said that he don’t have to have any children with his slave girl, to which the prophet recommended the method of coïtus interruptus to him, while saying that “What is destined will happen.” After some time, the Sahabi came and complained that the child has been born, to which prophet replied that “I already told you, that What is destined will happen.”.

    Kindly clarify, that why Prophet (peace be upon him) did not forbid this behaviour of Sahabi towards the slave girl?

    Thank you.

    Umer replied 2 years, 2 months ago 2 Members · 6 Replies
  • 6 Replies
  • Degradation Of Slave Women In Islam (2)

    Umer updated 2 years, 2 months ago 2 Members · 6 Replies
  • Umer

    Moderator April 26, 2023 at 11:37 pm

    That question was not answered because it violated the code of conduct of Ask Ghamidi because we do not entertain narrations for which no reference is available, specially a narration which is is not very well known and not easy to find. That question should have been deleted because of grave violations of the code. You are requested to please furnish a reference for the first incident being quoted.

    These sort of confusions arise when people consider ‘ahad‘ narrations to be a source of religion and verbatim reporting in every sense while completely ignoring the principles enumerated in Quran and Sunnah.

    Princple stance on Slavery was already provided to her and the response is the same for this query as well.

    Discussion 66923 • Reply 66954

    As for the second narration, the narration is very simple to understand, there is no apparent confusion, please refer to the following video:

    Discussion 59294 • Reply 64738

  • Muhammad Sami Uddin

    Member April 27, 2023 at 2:59 am

    Yes, After i watched Ustaz Engr. Muhammad Ali Mirza’s (ha) videos, on this topic again.

    I found it.

    Jabir (Allah be pleased with him) reported that a man came to Allah’s Messenger ( ‌صلی ‌اللہ ‌علیہ ‌وسلم ‌ ) and said: I have a slave-girl who is our servant and she carries water for us and I have intercourse with her, but I do not want her to conceive. He said: Practise ‘azl, if you so like, but what is decreed for her will come to her. The person stayed back (for some time) and then came and said: The girl has become pregnant, whereupon he said: I told you what was decreed for her would come to her. (Sahih Muslim 3556)

    • Umer

      Moderator April 27, 2023 at 10:58 pm

      There is a big difference how the incident is reported in hadith books as compared to what has been concluded in the question, for instance:

      i) “One day, I just decided to have sex with her,”;

      ii) “his Sahaabi DEGRADED this women into being his property and work mule, and then thought, ” oh! She’s right here! And I’m feeling very aroused, So let me just have sex with her real quick, and everything will go back to normal ” and just had sex with her. Then got SCARED because he didn’t want to take RESPONSIBILITY for his actions?

      __

      Let’s move forward and now please post your question on the basis of the above narration but after reading and going through the videos posted in the following responses:

      Discussion 66923 • Reply 66954

      Discussion 59294 • Reply 64738

  • Muhammad Sami Uddin

    Member April 28, 2023 at 2:52 am

    Sir, I don’t know the reference of the hadith which she provided above. I could only find out mine (which i guessed, that she would be talking about) I am not confirmed that whether she meant this hadith or not.

  • Muhammad Sami Uddin

    Member April 28, 2023 at 5:15 am

    The question arises, that the Sahabi (rta) said to the Holy prophet (May Allah the great’s peace and blessings be upon him, his family, and his companions) that he don’t want her to conceive, which seems that he don’t want to take responsibilities of his actions.

    • Umer

      Moderator April 29, 2023 at 3:15 pm

      Do we say the same about a regular couple (husband and wife) who opt for any contraceptive methods that the husband is evading resposibilties for his actions? of course we don’t. Therefore, issuing a blanket statement like this is not appropriate.

      Past should never be undestood in the light of the current circumstances, specially when the matter relates to societal norms and tribal traditions. We need to understand past through the lens of past by giving due regard to the actual factors at play at that time. Slaves and Concubines were an integral part of that society including sexual realtionships with concubines. They had no right whatsoever in that society and were treated like commodities.

      Islam adopted a gradual approach in this regard, on one hand it closed the doors for new slaves and concubines, while on the other hand, it tried to raise the standard of current slaves and concubines by influencing the psychology of the owners in a positive way and giving those slaves and concubines a right to choose their freedom. In the mean while, certain norms were kept for the time being until those changes take place gradually on their own in the society. One of those norms was sexual relationships with concubines and along with it came the choice to whether have a child or not which had already been practiced even before Islam, just the way one has this option with his wife. There can be many factors at play why a person would choose not to have a child, and being a concubine can be one of those reasons, among others. Just the way some chose not to have children, there were others who had children with their concubines. It was a choice which had to stay with the owner unless slavery was eradicated completely with time. Action of one person narrated through an individual report should not be used to stigmatize the whole scheme of eradication of slavery implemented by Quran.

      Please go through the following response once again and watch the videos of Ghamidi Sahab shared in that response as well:

      Discussion 66923 • Reply 66954

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