Slavery in Islam: An Honest British Muslim Guide (UK 2026)
By aburuqayyah on 12/22/2025 · 8 min read
Slavery in Islam Explained: The Complete Guide for British Muslims
Slavery in Islam remains one of the most misunderstood topics in Islamic history. Specifically, this guide gives honest answers for British Muslim families on a difficult subject.
The classical Islamic legal corpus contains rulings on slavery. The Quran also addresses the institution. The Prophet ﷺ owned slaves and later freed many of them. Likewise, the Companions practised both ownership and manumission during early Islamic history.
However, pretending none of this exists is dishonest. Likewise, defending the historical institution as ideal is also dishonest.
This guide is for British Muslim parents who want to give their teenagers honest, factually grounded answers to the questions they may face at school, during interfaith conversations, or through their own sincere questions.
For more educational resources about Islam in Britain, see the Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA).
In addition, E-aalim is an online educational platform and institute. E-aalim teaches the Holy Quran, Arabic, and Islamic Studies.
Understanding slavery in Islam requires studying its historical context, Quranic guidance, and the views of contemporary Muslim scholars.
Slavery in Islam: The Honest Five-Point Framework
The following framework explains slavery in Islam using authentic Islamic sources and historical evidence.
1. Islam did not invent slavery. It inherited a global institution.
When the Prophet ﷺ began his mission in seventh-century Arabia, slavery already existed across the world.
It was common in the Roman and Byzantine Empires.
It also existed in Persia, China, India, Ethiopia, African kingdoms, the Americas, and throughout the Mediterranean. For centuries, it had been practised continuously across human civilisation. The historical claim that Islam introduced slavery is empirically false; it inherited an existing practice. Join E-aalim any enjoy the E-aalim library in which you can read the books on various Islamic studies issues.
2. The Quran systematically restricted, regulated and incentivised the abolition of slavery.
Instead, the Quran adopted an incremental approach rather than immediate prohibition. The mechanisms:
Manumission as expiation for major sins (Quran 4:92, 5:89, 58:3-4) — the freeing of a slave became one of the standard ways to atone for breaches of religious law.
Manumission as one of the eight categories of zakat recipients (Quran 9:60) — meaning state funds could and should be used to purchase and free slaves.
The mukataba contract (Quran 24:33) — the institutionalised legal pathway by which slaves could purchase their own freedom through a contract with their master that the master was Quranically obligated to facilitate.
Islam encouraged marriage between freed slaves and former owners.
For example, the Prophet ﷺ married Maria the Copt after granting her freedom.
He also encouraged similar marriages within the Muslim community.The general Quranic ethic that ranks freeing a slave among the highest acts of righteousness (Quran 90:13) — alongside feeding the orphan and the destitute.
Overall, the cumulative direction is unambiguous: slavery is to be reduced and ended, not preserved or expanded.
3. The Prophet ﷺ's personal practice was overwhelmingly oriented towards freeing slaves.
The Prophet ﷺ freed dozens of slaves personally. Likewise, he encouraged his Companions to do the same. He elevated freed slaves to important positions in the Muslim community.
Bilal al-Ḥabashī (RA) became the first muezzin of Islam.
Zayd ibn Ḥaritha (RA) became the only non-prophet mentioned by name in the Quran.
Salman al-Farisi (RA) became one of the Prophet's closest Companions.
The Prophet ﷺ explicitly forbade physical abuse of slaves.
He instructed owners to feed and clothe them at the same standard as themselves.
He also discouraged degrading language toward them. For example, when a Companion struck his slave, the Prophet ﷺ reportedly said: "Whoever strikes his slave or beats him, his expiation is to free him" (Muslim 1657).
4. Classical Islamic Law Preserved the Institution with Strong Protections
For the next thirteen centuries after the Prophet ﷺ, classical Islamic law recognised slavery as a legal category. It mainly limited slavery to lawful captives taken during legitimate warfare. Moreover, Islamic law did not allow civilians to be enslaved or raids to create lawful slavery.
However, Islamic law introduced many legal protections for enslaved people. It prohibited physical abuse and encouraged kind treatment. It also recognised manumission contracts that allowed enslaved people to earn their freedom. In some cases, Islamic law granted freedom to children born to enslaved mothers. Furthermore, owners had a religious duty to feed, clothe, and treat enslaved people with dignity. The law also protected inheritance rights in specific situations.
Overall, this legal framework offered greater protections than many other slave systems of the same period. Nevertheless, it remained a slave system. Therefore, Muslims today should acknowledge this historical reality honestly rather than deny it.
5. The contemporary Muslim consensus is that slavery is abolished and cannot be revived.
Today, every Muslim-majority country has abolished slavery.
Likewise, major contemporary scholars agree that it cannot be revived under modern international agreements.— including those most cited in classical reference — has confirmed that the global abolition of slavery is binding on Muslims as a matter of maslaḥa (public interest) and siyasah sharʿiyya (governance under religious law). Consequently, the Quranic trajectory pointed toward abolition.; the modern consensus completed it. Any group that claims to revive slavery rejects the consensus of contemporary Muslim scholars.
This includes the so-called Islamic State and similar groups.
Therefore, mainstream Muslims reject these claims completely.
For more information about contemporary Islamic scholarship and public guidance in Britain, visit the British Board of Scholars & Imams (BBSI).
The specific question of "the owned women" (ma malakat aymanukum)
Today, this is the phrase in the Quran (Surah An-Nisaʾ 4:24, 4:25, 23:6, 33:50, 70:30) that British Muslim teenagers most often see weaponised in Islamophobic argument. The honest scholarly answer:
The phrase refers to female slaves whom a Muslim man could lawfully take as concubines under classical Islamic law — under the same conditions as any slave acquisition (lawful capture in lawful warfare).
Islamic law regulated this relationship carefully.
The owner did not have unlimited authority.
If the woman became the mother of his child, she gained the status of umm walad.
As a result, she could not be sold and became free after his death.Contemporary Muslim scholars agree that slavery has ended.
Therefore, the legal category of "owned women" no longer exists. However, the Quranic permission was contingent on the lawful existence of the institution. Consequently, without lawful slavery, there are no lawful concubines..Therefore, no contemporary Muslim man may have a sexual relationship with a woman under the framework of "ownership". Marriage is the only lawful framework for sexual relations in contemporary Islamic law as practised by every mainstream fiqh school.
Slavery in Islam Compared with Other Religious Traditions
For example, this is worth knowing for British Muslim children studying comparative religion at school.
Tradition | Position on slavery |
|---|---|
Christianity (mainstream Western) | The New Testament accepted slavery. St Paul instructed slaves to obey their masters (Ephesians 6:5). European Christian states practised slavery on a massive scale until the 19th century. Christian theology was sometimes used to justify the trans-Atlantic slave trade. |
Judaism | The Hebrew Bible regulates slavery, including distinct rules for Jewish vs non-Jewish slaves. Slavery was practised in ancient Israel and continued in Jewish communities under Islamic and Christian rule. |
Hinduism | The caste system has functioned as a form of hereditary social bondage for millennia, with Dalits at the bottom often experiencing conditions comparable to slavery in many regions. |
Islam | As described above — incremental abolitionist trajectory, regulated existing institution, contemporary consensus on global abolition. |
The honest comparative position is that Islam's record on slavery is no worse than the other major Abrahamic and Eastern traditions, and on several specific dimensions (mandated decent treatment, protection of slave families, manumission incentives) was ahead of the pre-modern Christian, Jewish and Hindu equivalents.
How to handle the question at a British secondary school
If your teenager is asked: "Doesn't the Quran allow slavery?" — the honest answer in a sentence:
"Islam inherited slavery from a world that universally practised it.
It regulated and restricted the institution.
It also made freeing slaves one of the most rewarded acts of worship.
Ultimately, its teachings pointed towards abolition. Every Muslim-majority country has abolished slavery, and the consensus of contemporary Muslim scholarship is that it cannot be revived. Anyone who claims otherwise is operating outside the mainstream Muslim community."
Therefore, when discussing slavery in Islam, Muslim students should answer honestly, confidently, and with historical context.
This single paragraph, calmly and confidently delivered, defuses 90% of the question and earns the respect of the questioner.
Ultimately, learning about slavery in Islam helps Muslims answer difficult questions with confidence, knowledge, and historical accuracy.
Frequently asked questions
Where to go next
For more on the contested topics in Islamic ethics, see our guide on Points of Suspicion About Islam. You can also read our guide on How Islam Honoured Women and our profile of Maria the Copt.
To understand slavery in Islam through the Quran, Hadith, and classical scholarship, study with one of our qualified teachers. Finally, book a free trial lesson to continue your learning.
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Frequently Asked Questions
No. Slavery was practised by every major civilisation on earth when the Prophet ﷺ began his mission in 7th-century Arabia — the Roman/Byzantine Empire, the Sassanian Persian Empire, China, India, the Ethiopian Empire, the entire Mediterranean world. It had been practised continuously for at least 4,000 years across human civilisation. Islam inherited an existing global practice; it did not introduce it.
The Quran addressed an existing institution and worked to restrict, regulate and incentivise its abolition. Mechanisms include: manumission as expiation for major sins (Quran 4:92, 5:89, 58:3-4); manumission as one of the eight categories of zakat recipients (9:60); the mukātaba contract by which slaves could purchase their own freedom (24:33); the encouragement of marriage between owners and freed slaves; and the general Quranic ranking of freeing a slave among the highest acts of righteousness (90:13). The cumulative direction is unambiguous: incremental abolition.
He freed dozens of slaves personally. He encouraged his Companions to do the same. He elevated freed slaves to the highest positions in the early Muslim community — Bilāl al-Ḥabashī (RA, the African freed slave) became the first muezzin of Islam; Zayd ibn Ḥāritha (RA, freed slave) became the only non-prophet named by personal name in the Quran. He explicitly forbade physical abuse of slaves and required they be fed and clothed at the same standard as their owners.
The contemporary Muslim consensus — across Sunni and Shia traditions — is that slavery is abolished and cannot be revived. Every Muslim-majority state in the world today has formally abolished slavery. Every major scholar of the modern era has confirmed that the global abolition is binding on Muslims. Any group that claims to "revive slavery" — including the so-called Islamic State and similar — is operating outside the consensus and is rightly treated as deviant.
The phrase refers to female slaves whom a Muslim man could lawfully take as concubines under classical Islamic law — under strict legal regulation including the woman's automatic protection upon pregnancy. The mainstream contemporary scholarly position is that since slavery itself is abolished, the legal category of "owned women" is also abolished. The Quranic permission was contingent on the lawful existence of the institution. Without lawful slavery, there are no lawful concubines. Marriage is the only lawful framework for sexual relations in contemporary Islamic law.
The honest comparative position is that Islam's record on slavery is no worse than the other major Abrahamic and Eastern traditions, and on several specific dimensions (mandated decent treatment, protection of slave families, manumission incentives) was ahead of the pre-modern Christian, Jewish and Hindu equivalents. Christianity practised slavery on a massive scale until the 19th century. The caste system has functioned as a form of hereditary social bondage for millennia in Hindu South Asia.
Calmly: "Islam inherited slavery from a world that universally practised it, regulated and restricted it, made freeing slaves one of the most rewarded acts of religion, and pointed in the direction of abolition. Every Muslim-majority country has abolished slavery, and the consensus of contemporary Muslim scholarship is that it cannot be revived. Anyone who claims otherwise is operating outside the mainstream Muslim community."
Yes — and freed many of them. The most famous case is Maria the Copt, the Egyptian woman gifted to him by al-Muqawqis, whom he formally manumitted on the birth of their son Ibrāhīm. The pattern of his ownership was overwhelmingly oriented towards manumission rather than retention.
Bilāl ibn Rabāḥ al-Ḥabashī (RA) was an African slave in Makkah, owned by the cruel master Umayyah ibn Khalaf. After embracing Islam he was tortured; Abu Bakr (RA) purchased his freedom. He became one of the closest Companions of the Prophet ﷺ and the first muezzin of Islam. His position in the early Muslim community is one of the clearest demonstrations that nobility in Islam is determined by faith and conduct, not birth or social class.
Sit one-to-one with an Al-Azhar-graduate teacher who can walk through the relevant Quranic verses and classical scholarship in depth. Eaalim teachers are available across UK time zones. Book a free 30-minute trial at eaalim.com/free-trial.
