islamic-jihad-legacy-of-forced-conversion-imperialism-slavery

Islamic Jihadone-hundred slaves. Hakim said, ‘I asked Allah’s Apostle, ‘O Allah’s Apostle! What do you thinkabout some good deeds I used to practice in the pre-Islamic period of ignorance (jahiliyah)regarding them as deeds of righteousness?’ Allah’s Apostle said, ‘You have embraced Islamalong with all those good deeds you did.’Good treatment and freeing of slaves definitely existed in the seventh-century Arab society, prior to thefounding of Islam. Muhammad himself had freed his only slave Zayd when he was a Pagan, some fifteenyears before undertaking the Islamic mission. He even adopted Zayd as his son. These generous and humanegestures of Pagan Muhammad clearly reflected the existing benevolent pre-Islamic tradition and culture of theArab society. Hence, Islam and Prophet Muhammad added nothing new to the humane aspect of slavery.Islam aggravated slaveryIslam did not institute slavery, but embraced the age-old practice with open arms and gave it a divinevalidation to last for the eternity and promoted it to a hitherto unprecedented scale. It is groundless to claimthat Islam closed the door to slavery or took the first step toward its abolition. In the Quran, Allah repeatedlygave approval of slavery as part of His divine plan, which must stand until the end of the world. Not only that,Islam aggravated the practice of slavery at its very inception, which worsened further over the centuries.Prophet Muhammad enslaved the children and women of Banu Qurayza, Khaybar and Banu Mustaliq[Bukhari 3:46:717], after slaughtering the men. This ideal protocol of the Prophet became the modus operandifor Muslim warriors through the ages until the West abolished its own engagement in slavery and enforced itsban in the Muslim world—much to the anger, disappointment and even violent opposition of Muslims.One must take note of the way the Banu Qurayza, Banu Mustaliq and Khaybar Jews wereslaughtered and enslaved by the Prophet. Nothing as barbaric and cruel, and on such large-scales, as thesetook place in the Arabian Peninsula during Muhammad’s life. Islamic history tells us that Muhammad’s fatherhad only one Abyssinian slave-girl, named Barakat. The leading men of Mecca are not recorded to havepossessed slaves in their dozens. The Prophet’s first wife Khadijah, despite owning a big business, possessedonly one slave, Zayd, whom she presented to Muhammad after their marriage. Muhammad, a Pagan at thetime, freed Zayd and adopted him as his son.During the next fifteen years of his life as a Pagan, Muhammad owned no slave. Over the nexttwenty-three years of his life as a Muslim and the Prophet of Islam, he accumulated fifty-nine slaves andthirty-eight servants as listed by Ghayasuddin Muhammad Khondmir in Rauzat-us-Safa. Zubair,Muhammad’s close companion, had a massive 1,000 slaves at the time of his death. 896As a Pagan, Muhammad, and also possibly Zubair, owned no slaves. But after embracing the Islamicfaith, they amassed slaves in dozens to a thousand. These examples make it clear that, instead of taking anystep toward its abolition, the Prophet of Islam and his closest companions themselves had elevated theinstitution of slavery to a much higher scale, compared to what pre-existed in Arabia. Islam also introduced amost barbaric and cruel means, albeit with divine sanctions, for capturing slaves on a scale not seen in thethen Arabia.Slavery, theologically & historically, an integral part of IslamDespite widespread denials about the existence of slavery in Islam and the claim that Islam took the first steptoward its abolition, slavery is indisputably a divinely sanctioned institution in Islam, which will stand valid896. Lal (1994), p. 13253