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

Islamic SlaveryThree members of the Saudi royal family, including a sister of King Fahd, were caught up in ascandal five years ago in London for their treatment of three Filipina women. The women suedthe Saudi royals, alleging that they had been physically abused, starved, and held against theirwill in the Saudis’ mansion in London. The Filipinas said they were often locked in the attic,were fed mere scraps of food, and were denied medical attention when they became gravely ill.About the treatment of domestic workers in Saudi homes in the United States, it reported:…most situations involving domestics working for Saudis have seven hallmarks: confiscation ofpassports, contract terms unilaterally changed, overlong working hours, denial of medicalattention, verbal and often physical abuse, a prison-like atmosphere... All of the women withwhom we spoke worked in the U.S., although some first worked inside Saudi Arabia; the womenwho worked in both countries said their conditions did not improve once in the U.S.CONCLUSIONWhatever residues of slavery that exist in the Muslim world today are insignificant to what existed throughoutthe history of Islam: right from the days of Prophet Muhammad to the mid-twentieth century. Undoubtedly,external pressures, namely from Western countries and the U.N. etc., has played a decisive role in limitingslavery in Muslim countries. But the rise of orthodox Islamic militants globally, who aim to conquer theworld for establishing Islamic rule, styled after the medieval Islamic caliphate, is a worrying sign. In aLondon demonstration against the publication of Prophet Muhammad’s cartoons in a Danish newspaper in2006, a Muslim protester shouted that let us invade Denmark and ‘take their women as war booty,’ whileanother called out: ‘take lessons of the Jews of Khaybar.’ 950 However shameful the institution of slavery isand those historical incidents are, the pious Muslim minds, often highly educated ones, feel inspired by themeven today.In 1999, the Sudanese government even took the justification of its supports for the ongoing slaveryin Sudan to the U.N. On 23 March 1999, Sudanese rebel leader John Garang complained to Mary Robinson,the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, about the Government-sponsored violent Jihad andenslavement. In response, the former PM Sadiq al-Mahdi (r. 1986–89) wrote to Robinson defending theSudanese Government’s complicity in the harrowing activities on a religious basis. He wrote, 951The traditional concept of Jihad ...is based upon a division of the world into two zones: one thezone of Peace, the other the zone of War. It requires initiating hostilities for religious purposes...It is true that the (NIF) regime has not enacted a law to realize slavery in Sudan. But thetraditional concept of Jihad does allow slavery as a by-product (of jihad).Therefore, if the radical Islamist movements worldwide succeed in achieving their goals, the revival of thesacred institution of Islamic slavery on the world stage with its past glory remains quite a possibility.950. Chilling Islamic Demonstration of Cartoons, London,http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=574545628662575243, accessed on 20 July 2008.951. Letter from Sadiq Al-Mahdi to Mary Robinson, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (Section III: WarCrimes), Mar. 24, 1999.268