Slavery: A Quranic Institution
Modern Muslims often claim that Islam came to abolish slavery or drastically improve slaves' conditions. However, the Quran—believed by Muslims to be the eternal, unchanging word of Allah—contains numerous verses that not only permit slavery but regulate its practice, assuming it will continue indefinitely. Far from abolishing slavery, the Quran institutionalizes it.
"And do not compel your slave girls to prostitution if they desire chastity, to seek the temporary interests of worldly life." — Quran 24:33
This verse assumes Muslims will own slave girls and addresses only forcing them into prostitution—not the institution of slavery itself.
Key Quranic Terms for Slaves
Ma malakat aymanukum (ما ملكت أيمانكم) — "What your right hands possess" or "those whom your right hands own." This is the Quran's primary euphemism for slaves, appearing 15 times. The phrase refers specifically to captives taken in warfare who become property.
'Abd (عبد) — Male slave
Amah (أمة) — Female slave
Every Quranic Verse Permitting or Regulating Slavery
Sexual Access to Slave Women
"And [also prohibited to you are all] married women except those your right hands possess. [This is] the decree of Allah upon you." — Quran 4:24
This verse explicitly permits sexual relations with slave women, even if they're married. The phrase "your right hands possess" means female slaves/captives.
"O Prophet, indeed We have made lawful to you your wives... and those your right hands possess from what Allah has given you of captives." — Quran 33:50
Muhammad is specifically permitted sexual access to his slave girls.
"And whoever among you cannot [find] the means to marry free, believing women, then [he may marry] from those whom your right hands possess of believing slave girls." — Quran 4:25
Poor Muslim men who cannot afford to marry free women are permitted to marry slave women.
"[Successful are the believers] who guard their private parts except from their wives or those their right hands possess, for indeed, they will not be blameworthy." — Quran 23:5-6 (repeated in 70:29-30)
Sexual relations are forbidden except with wives or slave women. This verse establishes that slaves are a distinct category from wives, permitted for sex without marriage.
Freeing Slaves as Atonement
"But he has not broken through the difficult pass. And what can make you know what is [breaking through] the difficult pass? It is the freeing of a slave." — Quran 90:11-13
"The expiation for breaking an oath is to feed ten needy people... or freeing a slave. But whoever cannot find [that], then a fast of three days [is required]." — Quran 5:89
"And never is it for a believer to kill a believer except by mistake. And whoever kills a believer by mistake - then the freeing of a believing slave and a compensation payment presented to the deceased's family." — Quran 4:92
These verses present freeing slaves as a good deed or atonement for sins—implying Muslims will own slaves to free. Notably, freeing a slave is presented as optional, an alternative to other forms of atonement, not a moral imperative.
Inheritance and Property Laws Involving Slaves
"Allah presents an example: a slave [who is] owned and unable to do a thing, and he to whom We have provided from Us good provision, so he spends from it secretly and publicly. Can they be equal? Praise to Allah! But most of them do not know." — Quran 16:75
Slaves are presented as examples of those without power or resources, contrasted with free people.
"And marry the unmarried among you and the righteous among your male slaves and female slaves." — Quran 24:32
Masters are encouraged to arrange marriages for their slaves, treating them as property to be managed.
Slaves and Modesty Laws
"O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to bring down over themselves [part] of their outer garments. That is more suitable that they will be known and not be abused. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful." — Quran 33:59
Free Muslim women are commanded to veil themselves to distinguish them from slaves, who were not required to cover. Classical commentators explain that this distinction helped identify free women to prevent harassment—implying slave women could be approached.
"And tell the believing women... that they should not display their adornment except to... their male slaves." — Quran 24:31
Male slaves don't count as potential sexual partners (like adult male relatives), so women can uncover before them—demonstrating slaves' reduced status.
Economic Regulations Involving Slaves
"And do not compel your slave girls to prostitution, if they desire chastity, to seek [thereby] the temporary interests of worldly life. And if someone should compel them, then indeed, Allah is [to them], after their compulsion, Forgiving and Merciful." — Quran 24:33
This verse only prohibits forcing slave women into prostitution if they want chastity. It does not prohibit:
- Owning slave women
- Having sex with them yourself
- Compelling them to prostitution if they don't desire chastity
What the Quran Does NOT Say About Slavery
Conspicuously absent from the Quran:
- No prohibition on slavery — Never says "Do not own slaves" or "Slavery is wrong"
- No command to abolish slavery — Never instructs Muslims to end the institution
- No criticism of slavery as immoral — Treats it as a normal, acceptable practice
- No timeline for ending slavery — Assumes it will continue indefinitely
- No condemnation of slave trading — Buying and selling humans is never criticized
If Allah truly wanted to end slavery, why didn't He simply say: "Do not enslave people"? Instead, the Quran regulates slavery as a permanent institution.
Classical Scholars' Understanding
Medieval Islamic scholars universally understood these verses as permitting slavery:
Ibn Kathir (14th century) explained that "those whom your right hands possess" means "slave girls whom you own or have captured in war."
Al-Tabari (9th-10th century) stated that men may have sex with female slaves without marriage and that captive women become the property of their captors.
Al-Qurtubi (13th century) explained that masters have sexual rights over their slave women just as they do over their wives.
No classical scholar argued that the Quran prohibits slavery—because it clearly doesn't.
Modern Muslim Apologetics
Contemporary Muslims offer several arguments to defend these verses:
"Islam improved slaves' conditions" — Even if true, this doesn't justify the institution. Improving prison conditions doesn't justify unjust imprisonment.
"Freeing slaves is encouraged" — Yet never required. The Quran could have said "Free all your slaves," but instead treats freeing one slave as optional good deed.
"Slavery was universal then" — But if Allah's moral law is eternal and perfect, it shouldn't conform to 7th-century Arabian norms. God should have been ahead of human morality, not behind it.
"Those verses only apply to war captives" — This doesn't help. Enslaving prisoners of war is still slavery, still treating humans as property.
Biblical Contrast: All Made in God's Image
While the Old Testament permitted forms of indentured servitude (with strict limitations and automatic freedom after six years for Hebrew servants), the New Testament presents a radically different vision:
"There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." — Galatians 3:28
"Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven." — Colossians 4:1
Paul's letter to Philemon requests that he receive back his runaway slave Onesimus "no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother" (Philemon 16). While not explicitly abolishing slavery in the Roman Empire, Christianity planted seeds that ultimately led to abolition movements led by Christians.
Genesis 1:27 declares: "God created mankind in his own image." This foundational truth—that all humans bear God's image—makes slavery fundamentally incompatible with Christian theology, even if early Christians didn't immediately implement this principle in Roman society.
Questions to Consider
- If Allah is eternally moral, why does His Quran permit and regulate slavery rather than prohibit it?
- Why does the "perfect, final revelation" assume slavery will continue forever?
- If Muslims claim Islam freed slaves, why do multiple Quranic verses take slavery for granted?
- Why did Christian-majority nations abolish slavery while Islamic nations had to be forced by Western pressure?
- If you believe slavery is wrong today, on what basis—when the Quran clearly permits it?