In this part of the article titled “The position of Islam on slavery”, we shall examine the third step adopted by Islam toward the complete eradication of slavery.
Islam is the first and the only religion which has prescribed the liberation of slaves as a virtue and a condition of genuine faith in God. No religion other than Islam has ever preached and enjoined how best we can show our love for fellow human beings in bondage.
In chapter ninety of the Quran, liberating a slave has been prescribed as a cardinal virtue of the faith:
Certainly, We have created men [to dwell] in distress. What! Does he think that no one has power over him? He shall say, “I have wasted much wealth” Does he think that no one sees him? Have We not given him two eyes, a tongue and two lips, and We pointed out to him the two conspicuous ways [of good and evil]? But he would not attempt the uphill road. What will make you comprehend what the uphill road is? It is the setting free of a slave… .(1)
It should be mentioned that the setting free of a slave has been highly commended. Islam controlled slavery in such a graceful and practical way that it made the maintaining of a slave a great responsibility for the master, and at the same time, it enjoined so much care and kindness to the slaves that in many cases when the slaves were set free, they did not like to leave their masters.
Thirdly, Islam restored dignity to slaves and enhanced their social status. It made no distinction between a slave and a free man, and all were treated with equality.
It was this fact that always attracted slaves to Islam. It is painful to see that those who never cease to be vociferous in their unjust criticism of Islam should take no notice of this principle of equality, when even in this enlightened age there are countries where laws are made discriminating against the vast majority of the population, to keep them in practical servitude.
Islam recognizes no distinction of race or colour, black or white, citizens or soldiers, rulers or subjects; they are perfectly equal, not in theory only, but in practice.
The first mu’azzin (herald of the prayer call) of Islam, a devoted adherent of the Prophet and an esteemed disciple, was a Negro slave.
The Qur’an lays down the measure of superiority in verse thirteen of chapter forty-nine. It is addressed to mankind, the whole human race, and preaches the natural brotherhood of man without distinction of tribe, clan, race or colour.
It says:
O you men! We have created you of a male and a female, and then We made you (into different) races and tribes so that you may know (and recognize) each other. Surely the most honourable of you with Allah is the one who is most pious among you; surely Allah is All-Knowing and Aware. (2)
This verse makes clear the viewpoint of Islam as regards human life on earth. It lays down only one criterion of superiority or honour and that is piety, which means complete obedience to the will of God.
It annihilates all man-made and artificial distinctions of race and colour which we find all over the world even now. To explain the qualities of piety, let us note what Allah says:
It is not righteousness that you turn your faces towards the East and the West, righteousness is this that one should believe in Allah, the Last Day, the angels, the Book and the Prophets, and give away wealth out of love for Him to the near of kin, the orphans, the needy, the wayfarer, the beggars and to those in bondage and keep up prayers, pay the poor-rate; and those who fulfil their promise and the patient ones in distress and affliction and in the time of war – these are they who are the truthful and these are they who are pious. (3)
This verse clearly shows that by itself there is no specific virtue in turning towards any particular direction for prayer. (The unity of the Qiblah indicates the unity of faith which leads to spiritual unity and culminates in physical harmony.)
The belief and practice enjoined in the verse are the real virtues, and apart from being ordered by God, they appeal to human reasoning. Please mark that “to give away wealth out of love for God to…those in bondage” is one of them.
In a tradition from Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (a.s), it is stated that when a person hits his slave (male or female), without any legal justification, then the only way of accounting for that act is setting the slave free even if that act of hitting is within the limits fixed by God.
In another tradition, Zurarah asked the same Imam about the attitude of a master towards the slaves. The Imam answered that “an act unintentionally done by the slaves is not punishable but when they are persistently and intentionally disobeying the will of the master, then they can be punished.” Besides, it would be of interest to know that a slave was given the right to sue his master.
A third tradition from the same Imam says that a man possessing the following four characteristics will be forgiven and will be placed higher in the values of realms of heaven:
(1) One who shelters an orphan and takes interest in the circumstances and problems in which the orphan is placed and is kind to him in a fatherly way, gives him the love of parents;
(2) One who is kind and helpful to the weak;
(3) One who spends on his parents and is kind, thoughtful and looking towards them;
(4) and lastly, the one who is not furious in his behaviour towards his servant or slave and helps him in the work one has ordered, and refrains from ordering him a such task which is beyond his capacity.
Islam enjoined that a master should treat his slave as one of his family members; he must be given all the necessities of life, just like any other dependent.
The Prophet used to eat together with his slaves and servants, and sit with them; he himself did not eat or dress better than them, nor did he discriminate against them in any way.
The masters were obliged not to put them under hardship; slaves were not to be tortured, abused or treated unjustly. They could marry among themselves (with their master’s permission) or with free men or women.
They could appear as witnesses, and participate with free men in all affairs. Many of them were appointed as governors, commanders of the army and administrators.
In the Islamic perspective, a pious slave has precedence over an impious free man.” (4)
It is stated in reliable traditions from the Prophet that one should feed his slave what he himself eats and should dress him with what he himself dresses.
In his famous sermon in ‘Arafat, on 9th Dhul-Hijjah 9 AH, during his last pilgrimage, the Prophet said: “…and your slaves, see that you feed them such food as you eat yourselves and dress him with what you yourself dress. And if they commit a mistake which you are not inclined to forgive then sell them, for they are the servants of Allah and are not to be tormented…”(5)
To say that Islam treated slaves on the basis of equality would be an understatement. Because, in fact, for a number of offences, the punishment meted out to a slave was half of the punishment meted out to others. (6)
This was in contrast to the established practice of every nation to punish slaves more severely than the freemen.
Professor Davis writes, “The criminal law was almost everywhere more severe for slaves than freemen.” (7)
The Prophet of Islam always exhorted his followers to treat their slaves like family members. He and his household always treated their servants as such. A female servant in the employ of Fatimah, the Prophet’s daughter, testifies that her mistress had made it a rule to share all household drudgery with her and insisted that the servant should have rest every alternative day when she, Fatimah, would attend to the work. Thus, there was an equal division of work between the mistress of the house and the maid-servant.
It is also recorded that once ‘Ali and his male servant Qanbar went to a shop where ‘Ali selected two garments, one a cheap coarse dress, the other expensive. He gave the expensive garment to Qanbar. Qanbar was shocked. “Oh Master!”, he said: “This is the better one and you are the ruler of the Muslims. You should take this one.” ‘Ali replied, “No, Qanbar, you are a young and young man should wear better clothes.”
Could such a treatment produce any sense of inferiority in slaves? Masters were forbidden to exact more work than was just and proper.
They were ordered never to address their male or female slaves by the degrading appellation, but by the more affectionate name of “my young man”, or “my young maid” it was also enjoined that all slaves should be dressed, clothed and fed exactly as their masters and mistresses did.
It was also ordered that in no case should the mother be separated from her child, nor brother from brother, nor father from son, nor husband from wife, nor one relative from another.
Let us now refer to the Qur’an:
Worship Allah (alone) and associate nothing with Him, and do good to parents, to kinsfolk, to orphans, to the needy, to the neighbour who is a relative, to the neighbour who is a stranger, to a companion by your side, to the wayfarer and to (the slave) which your right hands possess; verily Allah loves not the proud, the boastful. (8)
The Holy Prophet gifted a slave to Abu Dharr al-Ghifari and told him to maintain him in the best way, to feed him whatever he himself ate, to clothe him with whatever clothes he liked for himself. Abu Dharr had a robe which he immediately tore into two, and gave one piece to the slave. The Prophet said: “Excellent!” Abu Dharr took the slave home and liberated him. The Prophet was highly pleased with Abu Dharr and said, “God will reward you for it.”
How Imam Zaynul ‘Abidin, the fourth Imam, treated his slave girl is well-known in Islamic history. Once while serving food to the Imam, she accidentally dropped a bowl of hot soup on him. She was deeply conscious of the injury and pain she had caused to the Imam. She knew very well the disposition of the holy Imam and began reciting the Qur’anic verse: “Those who restrain their anger.”
“I have restrained my anger,” the Imam replied. “And those who forgive the people,” she went on.
“I have forgiven you,” he said.
Lastly, she said, “And God loves those who do good to others.” The Imam replied, “I set you free to seek the pleasure of God.”
The slave girl had quoted those words. (9) We reproduce the full verse here:
Those who spend (in alms) alike in prosperity and straitness, and who restrain (their) anger, and those who forgive the people, and Allah loves those who do good (to others).
Once someone remarked that the slaves of Imam Zayn al-‘Abidin say to each other that they were not in the least afraid of him.
On hearing this, the Imam prostrated to God in thanksgiving and exclaimed, “I thank God that his creatures are not afraid of me.”
From what we have said above, it must be clear how kindly and lovingly the slaves were treated by the Holy Prophet and the Imams of Ahlul Bayt, and those who followed the injunctions of the Qur’an and the examples set by the Prophet and the Imams.
On the attitude of the Muslim master toward his slaves, Will Durant says:
“…he handled them with a genial humanity that made their lot no worse – perhaps better, as more secure – than that of a factory worker in nineteenth-century Europe.”(10)
At the end of the 18th century, Mouradgea d’Ohsson (a main source of information for the Western writers on the Ottoman Empire) declared:
“There is perhaps no nation where the captives, the slaves, the very toilers in the galleys are better provided for or treated with more kindness than among the Muhammedans.” (11)
P. L Riviere writes:
“A master was enjoined to make his slave share the bounties he received from God. It must be recognized that, in this respect, the Islamic teaching acknowledged such a respect for human personality and showed a sense of equality which is searched for in vain in ancient civilization” (12)
And not only in ancient civilizations; even in the modern Christian civilization, the ingrained belief of racial supremacy is still manifesting itself every day. A. J. Toynbee says in Civilization on Trial:
“The extinction of race consciousness as between Muslims is one of the outstanding achievements of Islam, and in the contemporary world there is, as it happens, a crying need for the propagation of this Islamic virtue…” Then he comments that “in this perilous matter of race feeling it can hardly be denied that (the triumph of English-speaking peoples) has been a misfortune.” (13)
Napoleon Bonaparte is recorded as saying about the condition of slaves in Muslim countries:
“The slave inherits his master’s property and marries his daughter. The majority of the Pashas had been slaves. Many of the grand viziers, all the Mamelukes, Ali Ben Mourad Beg, had been slaves. They began their lives by performing the most menial services in the houses of their masters and were subsequently raised in status for their merit or by favour. In the West, on the contrary, the slave has always been below the position of the domestic servants; he occupies the lowest rug. The Romans emancipated their slaves, but the emancipated were never considered as equal to the free-born. The ideas of the East and West are so different that it took a long time to make the Egyptians understand that all the army was not composed of slaves belonging to the Sultan al-Kabir.” (14)
NOTES:
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1. (The Qur’an 90:4-13)
2. (The Qur’an 49:13)
3. (The Qur’an 2:177)
4. al-Tabataba’i, op. cit., vol.16, pp. 338-358.
5. Ibn Sa’d, op. cit., vol. II:1, p. 133; al-‘Amili, op. cit., vol.16, 21.
6. al-Amili, op. cit., vol.18, pp. 401f, 527-8, 586-7; vol. 19, pp. 73, 154f.
7. Davis, D.B., The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture (N.Y.: 1969), p. 60.
8. (The Quran 4:36)
9. from verse 134 of chapter 3 of the Qur’an
10. Hurgronje C., Mohammedanism, (N.Y., 1916), p. 128 as quoted by W. Durant, The Story of Civilization, vol. IV (N.Y., 1950), p. 209.
11. As quoted in The Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol.I, p. 35.
12. Riviere P.L., Revue Bleaue (June 1939).
13. Toynbee, A.J., Civilization on Trial (New York, 1948), p. 205.
14. Cherfils, Bonaparte et l’Islam (Paris, 1914), p. (?).
