One of the greatest forms of propaganda against Islam, is that Islam tolerates or promotes slavery or concubinage.
The infographic above sets the facts out, directly from the Qur’an.
Muslims can be proud of the revolutionary steps our Beloved Prophet (saw) took to end slavery.
In response to facts such as these, critics often try the following tacks:
- “Here is hadith a, b, c from Bukhari or Muslim, that shows the Prophet bought or sold slaves/ allowed sexual slavery etc.”
Response: The Hadith literature consists of reports from a few narrators. The Qur’an is mass transmitted from one generation to the next.
Even if a hadith is classed as technically ‘authentic’ in chain, scholars such as Imam Abu Hanifa say it should be rejected if it contradicts the Qur’an. All ahadith are ‘dhanni’ (speculative) while the Quran is ‘Qati’ or definite.
Classical scholars of hadith such as Imam Dar Qutni and modern experts in hadith science such as Shaykh Nasir Al Albani have noted that there are WEAK narrations in both Bukhari and Muslim not to say anything of other, less celebrated collections. As such no hadith can be regarded as authentic if it contradicts the Quran.
Given the fact our hadith collections and books of Seerah are from between a century to two and half centuries after the Quran, historically this makes sense.
- ” Imam so -and-so said sex with slaves is allowed, slaves can be hit etc, they said it in a tafseer of the Quran”
This is an argument from questionable authority fallacy. Of course, some mufassirs have read things into the Qur’an based on secondary sources such as Ahadith and Seerah that are themselves questionable. Just because it is mentioned in a commentary on the Quran, or the commentator is well-known does not mean it is unquestionable. Our earlier scholars often disagreed about inumerable matters, a reference to one or several tafseers does not settle an argument at all.
- “Slavery did not end until the 19th century and Muslim states ended it last”
This is the whole point. Because, contrary to the instructions of the Quran, later rulers continued the practice of keeping slaves, when books of history and hadith were being collected it was obvious that such spurious narrations were going to creep in.
It is not that modern Muslims are condemning slavery now, because it is now unacceptable in the modern world.
It is rather that, Muslims in earlier times were unable to condemn slavery as the Qur’an had, because it was seen as acceptable in that cultural and political climate.