Shadee Elmasry – The Truth about Islam and Slavery
![Shadee Elmasry](https://artwork.muslimcentral.com/shadee-elmasry-150x150.jpg)
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
One single comment has spawned a discussion that I think is very
fruitful for people. If you have a sincere intention, and you just
want to see what does Islam say about slavery? Now the question
becomes, is it permissible? What does the city I say, What should a
Muslim do? If we are now entering a world where the non believing
nations, non Muslims have signed off agreements, or signed treaties
and are inviting us to treaties, if not demanding us
to sign treaties where we would not take slaves anymore? No more
slaves. So you have a war, just prisoner of war that said, he's a
prisoner. He's not a slave. And he's going to be tried and
whatever is going to happen to him is going to happen. Okay.
Let's see what Sheikh Mohammed Al Jacobi says about this in his book
on
the refutation of ISIS because ISIS claimed to have brought back
slavery
Sheikh Mohammed Jacobi in this book,
which you can find online refuting ISIS, he says in modern times,
enslaving non Muslim prisoners of war. Slaving non Muslim prisoners
of war is impermissible.
It's haram to enslave a non Muslim prisoner of war. Why does he say
this? The prohibition has been unanimously agreed upon by Muslim
jurists in the second half of the 20th century. Though it was
permissible in the previous ages, the impermissibility of slavery in
Islam is now absolute, with no exceptions. It became unanimously
established among Muslims when they adhered to international
treaties banning slavery.
The purpose of those treaties is to pursue the greater good of the
whole of humanity, and objective that the Muslims have always been
pursuing. By subscribing to those treaties, the Muslim rulers made
them binding on all Muslims. So in that sense, is the prohibition.
He's not saying we've abrogated the Islamic law, there's a big
difference between we made something forbidden for us to do
is very different than we are abrogating Islamic law. What's an
example? I hire you? And I say, I want you to work from 8am until
6pm, and you get one lunch break, and you get to 10 minutes for
thought and 10 minutes for us. And that's it. I don't want you to
pray, no effort. I don't want you to sit and memorize Quran, I don't
want you to sit and do that. I want you to paint my walls. If you
now break this agreement after you signed on to it, and you pray your
sinful and you pray in the time that you agreed with me that
you're going to work so I can pay you, your sinful. So there's a big
difference and it's something being forbidden because of a
treaty you entered and abrogating the Sharia no one can abrogate the
Sharia abrogate means to change the Islamic law you can't change
the subject. You can't change what the what the Quran came with. But
you can have a personal agreement that you will do X permissible
thing and you will not do Y which is could also be a permissible
thing. In fact, praying extra prayers is a recommended thing.
It's a beautiful thing. God loves it in general. But if we make an
agreement, you're gonna paint the wall and not pray. Then your
prayer now becomes sinful because you've broken the agreement
between me and you and your wealth is haram.
Since Muslim countries join these treaties by consensus, it is now
impermissible for an individual or even a country to reach them.
Moreover, adhering to these treaties, is in the best interest
of Muslims, as breaking them will result in dire consequences for
them. The world has not forgotten the millions of free African men
and women who are captured and enslaved in Africa by the European
powers during the colonial period, which followed the discovery of
the New World America. American society is still trying to get rid
of itself of the evil ill the ill consequences of slavery. In 1926,
sorry, the 1926 Slavery convention and the 1956 supplementary
convention banned slavery altogether. Subscribing to these
treaties as the Muslim rulers did, was absolutely legitimate and
Islamic law. Indeed, it was the right thing to do for all the
above reasons the act of enslaving anyone, whether Muslim or non
Muslim, or reinstating the slave trade today are prohibited from
Muslims. One point needs to be clarified, as it is the object of
some controversy, the international conventions, banning
slavery and the slave trade in no way contradict the Holy Quran, the
prophetic tradition or Islamic law. The Sharia already envisaged
the possibility of treaties between Muslim and non Muslim
rulers by which two sides would refrain from enslaving their
respective prisoners of war. So prisoner of war one thing slave a
different thing.
Now that Muslims have signed those conventions, they're bound by
them. In fact, listen to this, the Ottoman caliphate, which ruled by
Islamic law, according to the school of Abu Hanifa, abolished
slavery in Africa in 1847. Then, in 1882, it abolished it
throughout the entire empire by means of a edict issued by the
Sultan.
It should be understood that eradicating slavery through such
agreements does not abrogate the Islamic rules and regulations
pertaining to slavery, as found in the sacred texts. Moreover, the
sacred texts do not dictate that slavery should exist. It's not
something that the city is saying go and make it exist throughout
the earth, just as we're saying raised the word of Allah Most High
throughout the earth that we say that right? Call the then recite
the Quran.
Establish marriage between people give Dawa, etc.
Make slavery No, or establish slaves, no established slavery?
No, that's not part of it. It's something that we have rules and
regulation because it exists likewise, divorce. Divorce is a
reality of life. Let's establish Islam in North America. How are we
going to do that? Start collecting Zika distributing it properly,
feed the poor, teach the Quran teach Islamic FIP Alright, teach
up to eat up. All right, teach Islamic law teach all Sharia and
start divorcing because divorces has rules in this video suited to
how Talaq has a surah? No, that's not how it works. That's not
something that the Sharia has come to establish, to seek out. Okay,
that's what he's saying here. Right, the Sharia. He's saying
here.
The sacred texts do not dictate that slavery should exist.
Wouldn't we love to have a society where no, no.
Divorce happens at all? Does that mean we've abolished divorce? Or
we act we sought to abrogate divorce? No. Certain things we
don't want to exist.
Okay, so he's saying slavery is one of those. Moreover, the sacred
texts do not dictate that slavery should exist. In fact, they simply
regulate slavery if and when it is present. To prevent abuses exactly
what Shukla has weighed, he said exactly what I quoted my Schecter
mucha beep in the previous video that Giada put up.
political agreements between countries such as the abolition of
slavery are meant to pursue the best interests for the whole of
humanity. They are based upon principles such as justice and
equity. Muslims should definitely applaud such ideals and support
them by joining those treaties. In fact, Muslims can find precedents
similar to those treaties in their own history, such as the League of
the virtuous helful followed a pre Islamic pact, formed by the main
tribes of Mecca. The purpose of that of that pact was was to
prevent injustice and oppression to take retribution against
criminals and to aid the weak and the oppressed. Due to his innate
sense of justice. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam joined
this pact even before being assigned the mission to spread His
prophetic message, knew he hadn't received the revelation yet.
The Prophet den said after the advent of Islam, if today I were
invited to a similar pact, I would immediately agree.
It should be noted that in this pact, the prophets of Allah would
have joined the pagans and the polytheists this polytheists of
Mecca without hesitation, hypothetically, if other nations
were to breach their treaties, and begin enslaving Muslims or non
Muslim citizens living in Muslim countries, then a legitimate
Muslim government could reconsider the situation and decide what to
do in the best interest of its citizens. Okay. So when we said I
asked him I said, when would is it possible slavery could ever come
back? He said, If they brought it back, then we can bring it back.
Okay. However, as long as non Muslims do not violate anti
slavery treaties, treaties, it is not permissible for Muslims to
breach them. Right. So Muslims are not allowed to enslave any
prisoners of war. Okay, this discussion so far has focused on
now Sheikh Webb as Haley