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Slavery in Islamic Law: Difference between revisions
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===In Islamic law=== | ===In Islamic law=== | ||
In Islam, the consent of a slave girl for sex, for withdrawal before ejaculation ([[azl]]) or to marry her off to someone else was not considered necessary, historically, according to Professor Kecia Ali.<ref>{{Cite web|first=Kecia |last=Ali | publication-date=January 20, 2017 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/article/concubinage-and-consent/F8E807073C33F403A91C1ACA0CFA47FD | title=Concubinage and Consent|publisher=Cambridge University Press|access-date=October 20, 2021}}</ref> | In Islam, the consent of a slave girl for sex, for withdrawal before ejaculation ([[azl]]) or to marry her off to someone else was not considered necessary, historically, according to Professor Kecia Ali.<ref>{{Cite web|first=Kecia |last=Ali | publication-date=January 20, 2017 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/article/concubinage-and-consent/F8E807073C33F403A91C1ACA0CFA47FD | title=Concubinage and Consent|publisher=Cambridge University Press|access-date=October 20, 2021}}</ref> Early legal hadiths and jurist opinions include punishments for the rape of slave women, but these are explicitly referring to situations where someone other than the slave woman's owner forces her into intercourse, which is treated as a property crime for which compensation is due to the owner for the depreciation in her value and the perpetrator would face the hadd punishment (see [[Rape in Islamic Law]]). | ||
Professor Jonathan A. C. Brown has written extensively on this topic: | |||
{{Quote|Jonathan A. C. Brown (2019) ''Slavery & Islam'', pp. 281-282<ref>Jonathan A.C. Brown (2019) ''Slavery & Islam'', London: Oneworld Publications, Chapter 7, pp. 281-282, ISBN 978-1-78607-635-9</ref>|As noted earlier, marriage and a male's ownership of a female slave were the two relationships in which sex could licitly occur according to the Shariah. In marriage, the consent of the wife to sex was assumed by virtue of the marriage contract itself. In the case of the slave-concubine, consent was irrelevant because of the master's ownership of the woman in question. As Kecia Ali has noted, there is no evidence for any requirement for consent from slave women in books of Islamic law in the formative centuries of Islam.<BR /> | |||
[...]<BR /> | |||
In the Shariah, consent was crucial if you belonged to a class of individuals whose consent mattered: free women and men who were adults (even male slaves could not be married off against their will according to the Hanbali and Shafiʿi schools, and this extended to slaves with ''mukataba'' arrangements in the Hanafi school). Consent did not matter for minors. And it did not matter for female slaves, who could be married off by their master or whose master could have a sexual relationship with them if he wanted (provided the woman was not married or under a contract to buy her own freedom).}} | |||
Like wives, a slave woman had a right to complain in court if intercourse with her owner caused her physical harm (see [[Rape in Islamic Law]] for details). However, on this point Brown notes that "Both wives and slaves had the same recourse to courts or members of the community. Unlike wives, however, slaves were almost by definition cut off from support networks other than their owners".<ref>Ibid. p. 132</ref> | |||
Regarding slave marriages, Joseph Schacht wrote in his textbook on Islamic law, "The marriage of the slave requires the permission of the owner; he can also give the slave in marriage against his or her will. [...] The unmarried female slave is at the disposal of her male owner as a concubine, but no similar provision applies between a male slave and his female owner."<ref>Joseph Schact, [https://archive.org/details/INTRODUCTIONISLAMICLAWSchacht/page/n133/mode/2up An Introduction to Islamic Law], Oxford University Press, 1982 (first published 1964), p. 127</ref> | |||
In her book ''Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam'', Kecia Ali explains that there was consensus that slave women could be compelled by their owners into marrying whosoever their owner wished (except that he could not himself marry her while she was a slave, though she could become an ''umm walad'', as discussed above). As for male slaves, the Maliki school held that owners could marry off their own male slaves without their consent, as did most Hanafis. The Shafi'i school in contrast held that this could not be done without the male slave's consent.<ref>Kecia Ali, "Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam", Massachussets: Harvard University Press, 2010, pp. 39-40</ref> A master could annul the marriage of his female slave and contract her divorce without her permission, whereas from the 9th century CE jurists decided that a male slave's marriage could not be dissolved by his owner without his permission (though all jurists agreed that his owner's permission was required for him to marry in the first place).<ref>Ibid. p. 153-5</ref> | In her book ''Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam'', Kecia Ali explains that there was consensus that slave women could be compelled by their owners into marrying whosoever their owner wished (except that he could not himself marry her while she was a slave, though she could become an ''umm walad'', as discussed above). As for male slaves, the Maliki school held that owners could marry off their own male slaves without their consent, as did most Hanafis. The Shafi'i school in contrast held that this could not be done without the male slave's consent.<ref>Kecia Ali, "Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam", Massachussets: Harvard University Press, 2010, pp. 39-40</ref> A master could annul the marriage of his female slave and contract her divorce without her permission, whereas from the 9th century CE jurists decided that a male slave's marriage could not be dissolved by his owner without his permission (though all jurists agreed that his owner's permission was required for him to marry in the first place).<ref>Ibid. p. 153-5</ref> | ||
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The contradiction inherent in this passage is evident: despite the unspecified coercive measures, some of the women in question refused conversion and, consequently, the masters could not take full advantage of their services. If the only way to embrace Islam is pronouncing the declaration of faith, the conversion of a defiant woman may not be possible: it is not always feasible to force someone to utter the shahāda. '''According to a tradition transmitted on the authority of Hasan al-Basri, the Muslims used various devices to attain their objective: they turned the Zorastrian slave-girl toward the Ka‘ba, ordered her to pronounce the shahāda and to perform ablution. Her master then engaged in sexual relations''' after she had one menstruating period while in his house. Others hold that the master must teach the slave-girl to pray, to purify herself and to shave her private parts before any intercourse. The participation of the girl in this procedure is minimal, and this wording may be interpreted us a considerable lowering of the conversion requirements so that the girl becomes eligible for sexual intercourse as expeditiously as possible. Among the early traditionists, only '''a few were willing to go beyond this and allow sexual relations with a Zoroastrian slave-girl without insisting on at least a semblance of conversion'''. | The contradiction inherent in this passage is evident: despite the unspecified coercive measures, some of the women in question refused conversion and, consequently, the masters could not take full advantage of their services. If the only way to embrace Islam is pronouncing the declaration of faith, the conversion of a defiant woman may not be possible: it is not always feasible to force someone to utter the shahāda. '''According to a tradition transmitted on the authority of Hasan al-Basri, the Muslims used various devices to attain their objective: they turned the Zorastrian slave-girl toward the Ka‘ba, ordered her to pronounce the shahāda and to perform ablution. Her master then engaged in sexual relations''' after she had one menstruating period while in his house. Others hold that the master must teach the slave-girl to pray, to purify herself and to shave her private parts before any intercourse. The participation of the girl in this procedure is minimal, and this wording may be interpreted us a considerable lowering of the conversion requirements so that the girl becomes eligible for sexual intercourse as expeditiously as possible. Among the early traditionists, only '''a few were willing to go beyond this and allow sexual relations with a Zoroastrian slave-girl without insisting on at least a semblance of conversion'''. | ||
Shafi‘i's treatment of the issue is slightly different. Speaking of grown-up Zoroastrian or polytheist women taken into captivity, he maintains that no sexual relations with them are allowed before they embrace Islam without bringing up the question of converting them forcibly. If the female captives are minor but were taken captive with at least one of their parents, the ruling is the same. '''If, however, the girl was captured without her parents, or one of her parents embraced Islam, she is considered a Muslim and is coerced into embracing it''' (''nahkumu lahā bihukm al-Islām wa nujbiruhā ‘alayhi''). '''Once this happens, sexual relations with her are lawful.'''}} | Shafi‘i's treatment of the issue is slightly different. Speaking of grown-up Zoroastrian or polytheist women taken into captivity, he maintains that no sexual relations with them are allowed before they embrace Islam without bringing up the question of converting them forcibly. If the female captives are minor but were taken captive with at least one of their parents, the ruling is the same. '''If, however, the girl was captured without her parents, or one of her parents embraced Islam, she is considered a Muslim and is coerced into embracing it''' (''nahkumu lahā bihukm al-Islām wa nujbiruhā ‘alayhi''). '''Once this happens, sexual relations with her are lawful.'''}} | ||
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=== Slaves for pleasure (muṭʿa, ladhdha) / sex ( jawārī al-waṭʾ) and domestic domestic service (khidma) === | |||
As Myrne, P. (2019) notes in her 2019 article ‘''Slaves for Pleasure in Arabic Sex and Slave Purchase Manuals from the Tenth to the Twelfth Centuries''’,<ref>Myrne, P. (2019) ‘[https://www.academia.edu/45040376/Slaves_for_Pleasure_in_Arabic_Sex_and_Slave_Purchase_Manuals_from_the_Tenth_to_the_Twelfth_Centuries?sm=a Slaves for Pleasure in Arabic Sex and Slave Purchase Manuals from the Tenth to the Twelfth Centuries]’, ''Journal of Global Slavery'', 4(2), pp. 196–225. DOI: <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1163/2405836x-00402004</nowiki> </ref> based on the evidence, women probably made up the majority of the slave population in the medieval Islamic world and their main occupation was domestic service. As men were legally permitted to have sexual relations with their female slaves (in direct contrast with Byzantium law),<ref>Bruning, J., & Huseini, S. R. (2023). Slavery in Byzantium and the Medieval Islamicate World: Texts and Contexts. ''Slavery & Abolition'', ''44''(4), 583–592. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1080/0144039X.2023.2264110</nowiki> </ref> erotic compendia and sex manuals were popular literature in the premodern Islamic world, and are potentially rich sources for the history of sex slavery, especially when juxtaposed with legal writings. She writes: | |||
{{Quote|Myrne, P. (2019) ‘Slaves for Pleasure in Arabic Sex and Slave Purchase Manuals from the Tenth to the Twelfth Centuries’, Journal of Global Slavery, 4(2), pp. 196–225. PP. 196-197|As men were permitted to have sexual relations with their female slaves, enslaved women owned by men could also be used for sexual service. Evidence from legal and literary sources indicates that slaves intended primarily for sexual service were singled out from those intended primarily for domestic service (khidma) at slave markets. The first group was referred to as slaves for pleasure (muṭʿa, ladhdha or another word for pleasure) or, bluntly, “slave-girls for sexual intercourse” ( jawārī al-waṭʾ ). Some of these slaves became their masters’ concubines and gave birth to their children, but others were probably used sexually for a period of time before being transferred to fulltime domestic service, which was facilitated by the permission to use contraceptive methods with slave women.}} | |||
We see that sexual intercourse was continued to be seen as a right for male owners far after the founding of the Islamic law schools, and that wives and slaves were not treated as equals: | |||
{{Quote|Myrne, P. (2019) ‘Slaves for Pleasure in Arabic Sex and Slave Purchase Manuals from the Tenth to the Twelfth Centuries’, <i>Journal of Global Slavery, 4(2),</i> pp. 196–225. PP. 203|According to contemporaneous Islamic legal writings, men had a number of privileges over women; sexual pleasure was one of them. They were allowed to have an unlimited number of slave concubines, as long as they could afford it. The warriors who took part in the early conquests were allotted captive women as reward; other men had to pay for female slaves. Prices and supply shifted, but slaves for pleasure were more expensive, and were probably always seen as a privilege for comparatively affluent men. The ideas expressed by ʿAlī ibn Naṣr and his sources are paradoxical; while harmony and reciprocity between sexual partners is the ideal, the legal access for men to a variety of women is applauded. [...] He also attempts to justify experimental sex with female slaves without alienating free wives. Arguing that enslaved women are more robust and prefer physically demanding positions, whereas free wives are more delicate and worthy of respect, he recommends men to use their female slaves when trying the many sex positions enumerated and described in the book. These positions could make free women feel humiliated, as they indicate low esteem, boredom and lack of love on the part of the man. Thus Ibn Naṣr addresses the concerns of free women and ensures them that both God and husbands give preference to free wives. [...] ..he addresses elite men’s desires and devotes considerable space to methods for enhancing their potency. Men are masters over their own private lives and they are free to choose their sexual practice within legal bounds. They can live with one single wife if they want to, or they can buy as many slave concubines as they wish, provided they can afford to, which is taken for granted here. Al-Samawʾal compares man’s life to the world of animals, concluding that it is a natural characteristic of man and animal alike to want a new partner. Consequently, even if a man has a beautiful woman in his house, he may wish to buy a new slave woman from time to time, only to experience the freshness of novelty, a phenomenon al-Samawʾal calls “renewal of the bed” (tajdīd al-firāsh).}} | |||
And aspects relating to a woman's desirability affected the value of the female slave: | |||
{{Quote|Myrne, P. (2019) ‘Slaves for Pleasure in Arabic Sex and Slave Purchase Manuals from the Tenth to the Twelfth Centuries’, <i>Journal of Global Slavery, 4(2),</i> pp. 196–225. PP. 215-216|Pregnancy was indeed one of the defects (ʿuyūb, s. ʿayb) that nullified the sale of a slave. Jurists discussed at length what should be considered a defect, the grounds for revoking a sale, and compensation for decreased value. Firstly, a defect was anything that reduced the value of the merchandise—in this case, a slave. As this varied locally, jurists recommended asking local slave merchants whether the defect reduced the price. Female slaves bought for sexual intercourse, jawārī al-waṭʾ (“girls for sexual intercourse”), had specific conditions. | |||
Defects that reduced their beauty and pleasurability were grounds for revocation or compensation in proportion to the reduction in value. Such defects could be bad breath, loss of virginity, hair that turned out to be dyed, inclination to fornicate, and, most strikingly, defects in the sexual organ. It is important to remember, however, that even when a slave was not bought for pleasure (li-ghayr al-mutʿa) but for domestic or other work, she could be used for sexual purposes by her male owner.}} | |||
==Slave markets, harems, and eunuchs== | ==Slave markets, harems, and eunuchs== | ||
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==External Links== | ==External Links== | ||
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHm9F1G5IRE What does Islam say about slavery - Part I Theology] and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkMcUKRNssY Part II History] - Salsalah | *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHm9F1G5IRE What does Islam say about slavery - Part I Theology] and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkMcUKRNssY Part II History] - Salsalah - ''Youtube video'' | ||
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zexn9IrMmNI HarrisSultanAthiest - Islam and Slavery] - How Islam Enslaved Africa - ''YouTube Video'' | |||
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= | |||
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-BRkNwpczg Friendly Exmuslim - Hijab's Dishonesty about Slavery in Islam] - ''YouTube Video'' | * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-BRkNwpczg Friendly Exmuslim - Hijab's Dishonesty about Slavery in Islam] - ''YouTube Video'' | ||
* [https://atheism-vs-islam.com/index.php/islamic-slavery/47-part-1-crimes-of-islamic-slavery-against-humanity Part 1: The Crimes of Islamic Slavery against Humanity], [https://atheism-vs-islam.com/index.php/islamic-slavery/46-part-2-allah-muhammad-forced-the-poor-slave-women-to-move-with-naked-breasts-in-public Part 2: Allah/Muhammad Forced Poor Slave Women to Move with Naked Breasts in Public], [https://atheism-vs-islam.com/index.php/islamic-slavery/45-part-3-muslim-excuses-deceptions-regarding-islamic-slavery Part 3: Islamic Excuses and Deceptions Regarding Islamic Slavery] - ''Atheism vs Islam.com articles on this topic'' | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
{{reflist}} | {{reflist}} | ||