Where are the voices against Islamic Slavery?

Submitted by julie (United States), Oct 17, 2006 at 11:00

The Koran permits the Muslim, who is at war with non-Muslims, to enslave the females and the males among the enemy. The slave's social status prior to enslavement will be rendered null and void, and she/ he becomes the property of the Muslim in doing whatever he pleases with her (or him.) All bets are off as far as human rights go…slaves have no rights whatsoever, no dignity, and nothing at all requires the conscience of the Muslim to treat the slave as a human being. The slave is just a piece of property.

Just a note here, but one of the repeated criticisms used by apologists in favor of Islam is that Islam outlines a society in which there is no pornography trade, and morals are upheld….no pedophilia exists, no homosexuality, etc. There is little documentation of immoral practices in Islamic countries, but this does not prove there is morality there. Walls exist around Muslim societies which forbid the light of truth from entering, and information from coming out to the rest of the world about the facts on the ground.

Unsavory descriptions are given over and over by the Muslim to intimidate the Westerner, put him on the defensive about his own society' aberrant behaviors and crimes. This is to shame the Westerner, and make him abandon Christianity, which the Muslim claims leads to such expressions of immorality.

In societies where non-believers are seen as less than human, "infidels" mutilated and massacred, slaves can be raped, tortured, sold again, and children can be used for all manner of pornographic indulgence, with no chance of anyone ever discovering it, we can be sure that far greater immorality exists. In societies that are closed to the outside world, such as are many Arab nations, we can only guess at the immorality that occurs unacknowledged as such.

The practice of slavery is nothing short of an insult to the Creator, God, Who gave each man and woman dignity as his birthright. It is as well an insult and denigration to all human beings. Slavery is a practice condemned by all of the civilized world. The United Nations is most outspoken about this issue, "A woman's right to choose a spouse and enter freely into marriage is central to her life and to her dignity and equality as a human being.

An examination of States parties' reports discloses that there are countries which, on the basis of custom, religious beliefs or the ethnic origins of particular groups of people, permit forced marriages or remarriages. Other countries allow a woman's marriage to be arranged for payment or preferment, and in others, women's poverty forces them to marry foreign nationals for financial security. Subject to reasonable restrictions based, for example, on a woman's youth or consanguinity with her partner, a woman's right to choose when, if, and whom she will marry must be protected and enforced [by] law."[1] Islamic countries are those which raise objections to their treatment of women; the previous document of the United Nations states that, "In replying to the concerns of the members, the representative of the State party explained that the Islamic religion was designed to emancipate men and women from all forms of slavery by prohibiting injustice, making the promotion of women a precondition for the road to paradise and calling for equality among all human beings. Any gender difference, if considered objectively, did not constitute discrimination based on sex. Reservations were entered by Islamic countries in order to avoid embarrassment in view of the literal meaning of legal texts. He assured the Committee that its concerns would be conveyed to the competent authorities."[2] It is true that, there is not a single nation on the face of the earth that did not, at one time, practice one form or another of slavery in its history. No people, black, white, or otherwise, is innocent of its practice in history, yet today no one should be subject to it under any circumstances. By slavery here, we mean only the ownership of another human being with or without his/ her consent, since his personal permission does not legitimatize its morality. Slavery is ALWAYS immoral, since we are all equal because we were created by God.

Saudi Arabia, one of the most brutal and abusive Islamic states on the earth today, did not even entertain the idea of abolishing slavery until 1962. Sudan's Islamic government is but a medieval regime which perpetrates enslavement of Christians in the South.

The Islamic leaders invade the Southern territories in massive numbers, systematically raping young Christian girls, and if they are not killed, they take them into captivity as slaves. Such regimes could not practice slavery if Islam as a theology did not encourage it. But where are the voices against Islamic slavery?

If we look closely at Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar, we will discover the Muslim masters abuse their Asian "maids," while keeping their passports by force, sometimes raping them, and at other times denying these poor laborers basic dignified human treatment. There is not a month that passes by these days without such atrocities being committed by Muslim men in many other Islamic countries.

When an Islamic nation does not hesitate to enslave half of its society, i.e., the women, should anyone should be surprised to hear about rapes, abuses, beheading and other gross violations of human rights occurring in the Islamic world?

Slavery in Islam is allowed, but the slave taken must not be Muslim under any circumstances, especially if the slave converted to Islam. "Marry those among you who are single and those who are fit among your male slaves and your female slaves; if they are needy, Allah will make them free of want out of his grace."( Koran 24: 32-33)

This is routinely ignored by Muslims who hold other Muslims as their slaves.

Economic motivations for marriage do not validate the marriage, since the intent for marriage, and the free consent of both parties is not present there. So, marriage in Islam is valid in all cases when it is to one's slave, since the slave has no rights whatsoever. The rights afforded to women in marriage are only nominally more apparent.

Koran 33:50 reads, "O Prophet! Lo! We have made lawful unto thee thy wives unto whom thou hast paid their dowries, and those whom thy right hand possess of those whom Allah hath given thee as spoils of war".[Emphasis is mine]

It is clear from 33:50 that spoils of jihad will become automatically the possession of the Muslim warrior, regardless whether the spoils are human, animal or material possessions. This was, and will be forever, a "divine institution" which Mohammed provided for the Muslims; it provided high motivation for the rapid Islamic expansion across Africa and the Middle East.

The term used in the above text, which gives Muslims the right of ownership of war slaves is, Wa Ma Malekat Emanokom, which is "and what your right hand owned." This ownership will include selling, trading or having sex with these ‘slaves' as another text clarifies it in 23:5 "...Except with their wives and slave girls, for these are lawful to them:..." Here, the term "owned" is used loosely when it refers to the taking of girls for sex slaves.

Muslims were not the only people who practiced slavery as result of taking war booty, but Muslims are the only ones who maintain this practice based on theological grounds. Muslims are the only ones who consider slavery to be one of Allah's commands to them, hence they forge ahead with the practice with a clear conscience.

Hoards of Muslim fanatics swept through Africa, forcing peoples into Islam, killing those who refuse, and selling others who were able-bodied into slavery. Throughout history, Muslims in Africa perfected the slave trade, profiting left and right. The history of Islam is not only about glories, as the scholars would have us to think, but its investment in slavery had millions of black victims, some dead, others living a nightmare.

"There is a conscious and articulate black Diaspora in the West that confronts the historical record of slavery and racism there. Yet Islam has no comparably conscious and articulate black Diaspora to confront it with the reminders of slavery" and racism. The absence of voices requiring accountability from the Muslims is deafening in its silence.

[1] United Nation's report on the eliminations of all forms of discriminations against women. Forty-Ninth session supplement Number 38( A/ 49/ 38).

[2] United Nations official record. Forty-Ninth session supplement Number 38( A/49/ 38)

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