Let’s be real, slavery has been around forever, way before Islam. Every civilization practiced it: Romans, Greeks, Persians, Africans, Indians, Chinese, Europeans—you name it. It wasn’t some rare exception, it was how the world worked for thousands of years.
So why did slavery even start? Simple: power, war, and economics. Tribes and nations that conquered others didn’t just walk away—they took people. Captives were turned into slaves, used for labor, sold in markets, or used as leverage. In most ancient societies, slaves were the backbone of the economy. They worked the fields, built cities, raised the homes of kings, and even fought wars. And if you couldn’t pay your debts, you could be enslaved too.
It was also a status symbol. The more slaves someone had, the more important they looked. This wasn’t unique to Arabia. Even philosophers and priests in ancient Greece and India owned slaves. So yeah, slavery was embedded deep into every society—socially, economically, and politically.
So when someone says “Islam allowed slavery,” they’re ignoring a massive historical fact: Islam didn’t create slavery, it walked into a world already running on it. And expecting 7th-century Arabia to suddenly abolish it, while the rest of the world wouldn’t do that for over a thousand more years, makes zero sense.
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Why Didn’t Islam Ban Slavery on Day One?
Because the world wasn’t ready. Back then, slaves weren’t just servants, they were the workforce. If Islam had abolished slavery overnight, millions of people—including the slaves themselves—would’ve been thrown into chaos with no income, no social safety nets, and no infrastructure to survive. Islam took a realistic, long-term approach: regulate first, then reform, then eliminate.
Also, let’s be honest, no other religion banned slavery in its scripture either. Not Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism—you name it. So expecting Islam to do something completely revolutionary in an era when humanity wasn’t ready is just applying double standards.
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Islam Encouraged Freeing Slaves, Not Owning Them
There isn’t a single verse or hadith that tells Muslims, “Go buy slaves.” Instead, the Quran and Sunnah are filled with reminders to free slaves, treat them like family, and respect their dignity.
“But he has not attempted the uphill path. And what will make you know what the uphill path is? It is the freeing of a slave.” (Qur’an 90:11–13)
Muslims were even told to educate their slaves, feed and clothe them the same way they did themselves, and give them the option of working to earn their freedom. That’s not something you do for someone you consider “property.”
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The Claim About Sex Slaves is a Total Misread
People love pulling out verses like 4:24 and saying, “Look, Islam allows rape of slaves.” But those verses talk about permitted sexual relationships, not abuse.
The Quran mentions “wives and those whom your right hands possess” in the same breath, putting both under a lawful category of intimacy. That doesn’t mean forced sex is okay. In fact, Islam forbids forcing anyone, even your own wife.
The Prophet ﷺ said: “Do not force your women (wives) to have intercourse. That is not appropriate in Islam.” (Ibn Majah 1920 – Sahih)
If that’s the standard with wives, why would it be any different with slave women? Consent matters in both cases.
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Captured Women Were Protected, Not Abused
Another common myth is that Muslims raided villages, killed men, and took women as sex slaves. That’s not how Islamic warfare worked.
Captured women were only taken from the battlefield, meaning they were active participants or supporters in war. Not innocent bystanders.
Islam gave those women shelter, food, protection, and the chance to be freed or even married. The Prophet ﷺ himself married two such women, Safiyyah and Juwayriyyah, after freeing them. They weren’t kept as “sex objects”—they became respected wives.
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Old Tafsir Isn’t Divine Revelation
A lot of critics throw in ancient Islamic commentaries to justify slavery or mistreatment of captives. But tafsirs are not the Quran. They’re interpretations by scholars from specific times and places, and many of them were written when slavery was still globally accepted.
Islam didn’t freeze in the 9th century. The core ethics of the Quran always aimed to lift people out of oppression. If a tafsir goes against that, maybe it reflects the scholar’s era, not the eternal message of Islam.
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Islam Treated Rape as a Capital Crime
Let’s make this crystal clear: rape is a major crime in Islam, regardless of who the victim is.
A man once raped a woman during the Prophet’s time. The Prophet ﷺ had him executed, and declared the woman innocent. (Abu Dawood 4379 – Sahih)
That’s the ruling. Death. So if rape results in execution, how could Islam possibly allow it in the case of slaves? It can’t. And it didn’t.
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The Bottom Line
Islam didn’t promote slavery, it walked into a world that ran on it. But instead of accepting it blindly, Islam: • Never told believers to acquire slaves • Pushed for gradual freedom and reintegration of slaves into society • Ordered kind treatment, education, and marriage for slaves • Forbade forced sex, even in marriage • Punished rape harshly, regardless of the victim’s status • Encouraged emancipation as a spiritual virtue
So no, Islam didn’t allow rape. And no, it didn’t glorify slavery either. It regulated a broken system, cleaned it up, and started pushing humanity toward a more ethical direction—long before the rest of the world followed.
People quoting verses without understanding context, ethics, or legal rulings are just twisting things to fit their agenda. Read the full picture, not just one line.
Agreed on all that.