Islam’s Gradual Approach to Abolishing Slavery

❀ Types of Slavery Recognized in Islamic Teachings​

1. War Captives: Individuals captured during wars.
2. Enslavement of Free People: Free individuals captured and sold into slavery.
3. Hereditary Slavery: Those born into slavery over generations, whose original enslavement is unknown.

✔ The Institution of Slavery and Islam’s Response​

Before Islam, slavery was a deeply rooted social and economic institution across Arabia and beyond. Islam was confronted with two fundamental questions:

① What should be done with the existing slaves?
② What long-term solution could address slavery?

✔ Addressing Existing Slaves​

Islam did not order an immediate abolition of slavery, as this would have caused a collapse of the prevailing social and economic systems. Instead, Islam initiated a moral and gradual emancipation movement known as Fakk al-Riqāb (freeing of necks).

◉ The Prophet ﷺ freed 63 slaves personally.
◉ The Companions freed many more.
◉ By the end of the Rightly Guided Caliphate, the number of slaves had greatly diminished due to this approach.

✔ Future of Slavery in Islam​

Islam prohibited:
Enslaving free people by capture and trade.
✔ Allowed enslavement only in war under certain conditions, with alternative options preferred:

• Freeing captives as an act of grace
• Ransom exchange
• Prisoner exchange

Only when none of these were viable could prisoners be retained as slaves.

✔ Rights of Slaves in Islam​

Islam significantly uplifted the status of slaves by:

◉ Encouraging kind treatment and education
◉ Providing a path to freedom through:

• Mukātabah (contractual manumission)
• Freeing as expiation for sins
  

✔ Female Slaves (Concubines)​

Islam allowed permissible intimacy with concubines (without nikah), but also:
✔ Enforced ethical treatment
✔ Encouraged freeing them and marrying them, as promoted by the Prophet ﷺ

This ensured dignity and eventual integration into society, reflecting Islam’s gradual dismantling of the institution of slavery.

❀ Summary ❀​

Islam approached the issue of slavery:
◉ Gradually, to avoid social chaos
◉ Prohibited the creation of new slaves outside of war
◉ Ensured existing slaves were treated humanely and given a path to freedom and dignity

Far from endorsing slavery, Islam aimed to eradicate it step-by-step, establishing a moral revolution in an era where slavery was globally normalized.

Source: Masʾalah Ghulāmī – Tanqīḥāt Part 2 by Abul Aʿlā Mawdūdī