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Slavery

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Islam condones slavery and did nothing to end it.

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Islamic Response:

Islam restricted sources of enslavement, commanded kind treatment, and made emancipation a major virtue, paving a gradual path to abolition.

  • Qur'ān 90:13 – freeing a slave is a mark of righteousness.
  • Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ said: "Your slaves are your brothers; feed them what you eat."
  • Historical: Many Companions freed large numbers of slaves (e.g., Abū Bakr).
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Biblical / Talmudic comparison:

  1. Leviticus 25:44-46: Foreign slaves are permanent property and may be passed to children as inheritance.
  2. Exodus 21:20-21 & 26-27: If a beaten slave survives two days "no punishment shall be given, for the slave is his money"; even eye-loss or tooth-loss is merely grounds for emancipation, not criminal penalty.
  3. New Testament: Eph 6:5 & Col 3:22 command slaves to obey masters "with fear and trembling"; the letter of Philemon sends the runaway slave Onesimus back to his owner—no abolitionist mandate appears.
  4. Qur'ān contrast: Qur'ān, by contrast, repeatedly urges freeing slaves (4:92, 90:13) and calls them "brothers" deserving equal food and clothing (Ḥadith).
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Why single out Islam while overlooking explicit, harsher endorsements of slavery in the Bible?