Short answer
No. Slavery is forbidden in Islam today, and the classical law bound the master with rules and gave the captive rights. Islam found slavery everywhere. In its own time it shut every way a free person could be made a slave but one: capture in a lawful war. The Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) forbade selling any free person. Classical law did allow a man relations with a captive woman he owned, but strict rules bound him. He had to wait a set time, and he could not force her into prostitution. If he forced himself on her when she could not bear it and injured her, a leading jurist held that she went free. If she bore him a child he acknowledged, the child was born free, she could never be sold, and she went free at his death. The Qur'an made freeing slaves an act of worship and an atonement for sin. Over 120 Muslim scholars condemned ISIS for reviving slavery. Today no one may own another person, so none of these rules can apply.
Full explanation
The world Islam was born into
In the seventh century every nation took prisoners in war and made them slaves: the Christian Byzantines, the Persians, the Arabs and every people before them. The Bible itself commands it. The law of Moses tells Israel to kill the men of a city that will not make peace and take the women and little ones for itself. After the war with Midian, Moses orders the girls kept alive for the soldiers. And it makes foreigners bondmen for ever. Islam did not invent slavery. It found it everywhere, and set about closing it down.
A study of slavery in the Islamic tradition and beside other societies. It shows that slavery was universal in the pre-modern world, sets out the rules of Islamic law on slaves and concubines, and reports that classical jurists protected a slave woman under the law against harm rather than in the modern language of consent: the Hanbali jurist al-Buhuti held that if her master forced himself on her when she could not bear it and injured her, she was to be set free.
“And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee.”
“And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.”
“Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession. And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour.”
No free person made a slave, except in war
Before Islam, a free person could be made a slave in many ways: for debt, by kidnapping, or by being sold by their own family. The Prophet (ﷺ) said that on the Day of Resurrection, Allah (﷾) will stand against anyone who sells a free person and keeps the money. No free Muslim could be made a slave. Nor could any free non-Muslim living under Muslim protection. Islam closed every way a free person could be made a slave except one: capture in a lawful war, under the ruler's authority. The Prophet (ﷺ) forbade killing women and children in war, so many captives were women and children. The Qur'an names two ways to end captivity: setting captives free as a kindness, or for a ransom. When the Hawazin tribe came to the Prophet (ﷺ) as Muslims and asked for their families, he gave them back.
Abu Hurayra reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said Allah will be the opponent of three people on the Day of Resurrection, among them the man who sells a free person and consumes the price.
Ibn Umar reports that a woman was found killed during one of the Prophet's (ﷺ) campaigns, and the Prophet forbade the killing of women and children.
“Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers (in fight), smite at their necks; At length, when ye have thoroughly subdued them, bind a bond firmly (on them): thereafter (is the time for) either generosity or ransom: Until the war lays down its burdens. Thus (are ye commanded): but if it had been Allah's Will, He could certainly have exacted retribution from them (Himself); but (He lets you fight) in order to test you, some with others. But those who are slain in the Way of Allah,- He will never let their deeds be lost.”
When a delegation of the Hawazin came to the Prophet (ﷺ) as Muslims and asked for their families taken captive at Hunayn, he asked his soldiers to return the captives, and they gave up their shares willingly.
The rights of the slave
The Prophet (ﷺ) said that slaves are brothers: their owners must feed them from what they eat, clothe them as they dress, and not load them beyond their strength, or else help them. He made freedom the atonement for a single slap or beating. He told Muslims not to say "my slave", but "my lad" and "my lass". The Qur'an forbids forcing slave women into prostitution for gain.
Abu Dharr insulted a man and shamed him over his mother. The Prophet (ﷺ) told him he still had some of the ways of the Days of Ignorance. He said that their slaves are their brothers: they must feed them from what they eat, clothe them as they dress, and not load them beyond their strength, or else help them.
Zadhan found Ibn Umar freeing a slave. Ibn Umar said there was no reward in it for him, except that he had heard the Prophet (ﷺ) say that whoever slaps his slave or beats him, the expiation for it is to set him free.
Abu Huraira reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) told people not to say "my slave" or "my slave-girl", but "my lad", "my lass" and "my boy".
“Let those who find not the wherewithal for marriage keep themselves chaste, until Allah gives them means out of His grace. And if any of your slaves ask for a deed in writing (to enable them to earn their freedom for a certain sum), give them such a deed if ye know any good in them: yea, give them something yourselves out of the means which Allah has given to you. But force not your maids to prostitution when they desire chastity, in order that ye may make a gain in the goods of this life. But if anyone compels them, yet, after such compulsion, is Allah, Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful (to them),”
The law on the captive woman
Classical Islamic law did allow a master to have relations with a captive woman he owned. But first he had to wait for a set time, to show whether she was already pregnant. The Prophet (ﷺ) said he had thought of cursing a man who meant to take a captive woman who was close to giving birth. The classical jurists did not use today's language of consent. They protected her through the law against harm. She could complain to a judge. The Hanbali jurist al-Buhuti held that if her master forced himself on her when she could not bear it, and injured her, she must be set free. Her children by her master were born free once he accepted them as his, and they inherited from him. And once she had borne him a child, the Caliph Umar ruled, she could never be sold, given away or left to his heirs. She went free when he died. The four schools of law followed that ruling.
Abu Sa'id al-Khudri reports that after the battle at Awtas the Companions held back from the captive women, and Allah revealed Qur'an 4:24; they became lawful only once their waiting period ('idda) had ended.
Abu al-Darda reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) came upon a woman near to giving birth at the door of a tent, and on hearing that the man who owned her meant to have relations with her, said he had decided to curse him with a curse that would follow him into his grave.
A study of slavery in the Islamic tradition and beside other societies. It shows that slavery was universal in the pre-modern world, sets out the rules of Islamic law on slaves and concubines, and reports that classical jurists protected a slave woman under the law against harm rather than in the modern language of consent: the Hanbali jurist al-Buhuti held that if her master forced himself on her when she could not bear it and injured her, she was to be set free.
Malik reports from Nafi, from Ibn Umar, that the Caliph Umar ruled: when a slave woman bears her master a child, he may not sell her, give her away or leave her to his heirs; when he dies, she is free. This is Umar's ruling, not a saying of the Prophet (ﷺ).
The doors to freedom
The Qur'an calls freeing a slave "the path that is steep". It makes freeing a slave the way to make up for killing a believer by mistake, for breaking an oath, and for a pagan kind of divorce called zihar. It sets aside part of the zakat, the yearly charity, to free people from slavery, and counts spending to free slaves as true goodness. It tells an owner to give a slave a contract to buy his freedom, if he sees good in him. Most jurists held this strongly recommended. Some early scholars held it a duty, and the Caliph Umar enforced it. The Prophet (ﷺ) promised that whoever frees a Muslim slave is saved from the Fire. He promised a double reward to the man who teaches a slave woman, frees her and marries her. When a slave woman named Barirah had such a contract, he told Aisha to buy her and set her free.
“And what will explain to thee the path that is steep?- (It is:) freeing the bondman;”
“Never should a believer kill a believer; but (If it so happens) by mistake, (Compensation is due): If one (so) kills a believer, it is ordained that he should free a believing slave, and pay compensation to the deceased's family, unless they remit it freely. If the deceased belonged to a people at war with you, and he was a believer, the freeing of a believing slave (Is enough). If he belonged to a people with whom ye have treaty of Mutual alliance, compensation should be paid to his family, and a believing slave be freed. For those who find this beyond their means, (is prescribed) a fast for two months running: by way of repentance to Allah: for Allah hath all knowledge and all wisdom.”
“Allah will not call you to account for what is futile in your oaths, but He will call you to account for your deliberate oaths: for expiation, feed ten indigent persons, on a scale of the average for the food of your families; or clothe them; or give a slave his freedom. If that is beyond your means, fast for three days. That is the expiation for the oaths ye have sworn. But keep to your oaths. Thus doth Allah make clear to you His signs, that ye may be grateful.”
“But those who divorce their wives by Zihar, then wish to go back on the words they uttered,- (It is ordained that such a one) should free a slave before they touch each other: Thus are ye admonished to perform: and Allah is well-acquainted with (all) that ye do.”
“Alms are for the poor and the needy, and those employed to administer the (funds); for those whose hearts have been (recently) reconciled (to Truth); for those in bondage and in debt; in the cause of Allah; and for the wayfarer: (thus is it) ordained by Allah, and Allah is full of knowledge and wisdom.”
“It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces Towards east or West; but it is righteousness- to believe in Allah and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; to be steadfast in prayer, and practice regular charity; to fulfil the contracts which ye have made; and to be firm and patient, in pain (or suffering) and adversity, and throughout all periods of panic. Such are the people of truth, the Allah-fearing.”
“Let those who find not the wherewithal for marriage keep themselves chaste, until Allah gives them means out of His grace. And if any of your slaves ask for a deed in writing (to enable them to earn their freedom for a certain sum), give them such a deed if ye know any good in them: yea, give them something yourselves out of the means which Allah has given to you. But force not your maids to prostitution when they desire chastity, in order that ye may make a gain in the goods of this life. But if anyone compels them, yet, after such compulsion, is Allah, Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful (to them),”
Abu Huraira reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: whoever frees a Muslim slave, Allah will save every part of his body from the Fire, as he freed every part of the slave's body.
Abu Musa al-Ash'ari reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said a man who has a slave woman, teaches her good manners, educates her well, then frees her and marries her, will have a double reward.
Aisha reports that Barirah, a slave woman whose owners had given her a contract to buy her freedom, asked Aisha for help. The Prophet (ﷺ) told Aisha to buy her and set her free, and she did.
His last words
Among the very last words of the Prophet (ﷺ) were a plea about prayer and about slaves: fear Allah (﷾) in how you treat those your right hands own. When he died, he left no slave, man or woman.
Ali ibn Abi Talib reports that the last words the Prophet (ﷺ) spoke were: the prayer, the prayer; and fear Allah concerning those whom your right hands possess.
Amr ibn al-Harith reports that when the Prophet (ﷺ) died he left no money, no slave and nothing else, except his white mule, his weapons and a piece of land he had given in charity.
What Muslim scholars say today
Slavery is forbidden in Islam today. Egypt's official fatwa authority says that making anyone a slave is now a crime in Islamic law. It says the treaties against slavery, which Muslim countries have signed, bind Muslims. The Qur'an tells Muslims to keep their agreements. In 2014 the group calling itself the Islamic State brought back the enslavement of women. More than 120 Muslim scholars wrote to its leader. They told him that bringing back slavery is forbidden in Islam, because it had been abolished by universal consensus. And by taking women as concubines, they said, he had spread corruption on the earth. Slavery is illegal in every Muslim country.
Egypt's official fatwa authority states that Islamic law is clear in prohibiting slavery today, that the international agreements criminalising slavery bind Muslims, that enslavement has become a crime, and that the rulings on slaves in Islamic jurisprudence have been suspended because they no longer apply.
“Come not nigh to the orphan's property except to improve it, until he attains the age of full strength; and fulfil (every) engagement, for (every) engagement will be enquired into (on the Day of Reckoning).”
An open letter from Muslim scholars, muftis and imams around the world to the leader of the group calling itself the Islamic State. Its signers include Shawqi Allam, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, and Abdallah bin Bayyah, with scholars and leaders from Nigeria, Pakistan, Indonesia and North America. Its summary lists what it says is forbidden in Islam, among them: killing the innocent; killing emissaries, and so journalists and aid workers; declaring people non-Muslim unless they openly declare disbelief; harming or mistreating Christians or any People of the Scripture; forcing people to convert; torturing people; and disfiguring the dead. It adds that bringing slavery back is forbidden in Islam, because it was abolished by universal consensus, and it condemns his taking women as concubines as a revival of strife and corruption.
The critic's own scripture and Church
The Bible lets off a master whose beaten slave lives for a day or two after the beating, because the slave "is his money". It frees a beaten slave only for a lost eye or tooth. The Prophet (ﷺ) made freedom the price of a single slap. The Bible lets a man sell his own daughter. The New Testament tells slaves to obey their masters "with fear and trembling", even the harsh ones. The Greek word that the King James Version gives as "servants" means slaves. Nowhere does the Bible make freeing a slave a way to make up for sin. In 1455 Pope Nicholas V confirmed the King of Portugal's right to make Muslims and pagans slaves for ever. Christian nations shipped about 12.5 million Africans across the Atlantic. In 1995 the Southern Baptist Convention admitted that many of its forebears had defended the right to own slaves.
“And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished. Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.”
“And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake. And if he smite out his manservant’s tooth, or his maidservant’s tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.”
Zadhan found Ibn Umar freeing a slave. Ibn Umar said there was no reward in it for him, except that he had heard the Prophet (ﷺ) say that whoever slaps his slave or beats him, the expiation for it is to set him free.
“And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.”
“Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;”
“Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.”
Pope Nicholas V restates the powers he had earlier granted (in the bull Dum Diversas, 1452) to the King of Portugal: to invade, capture and subdue all Saracens and pagans and other enemies of Christ, wherever they are, and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery.
Estimates that about 12.5 million Africans were put on ships to cross the Atlantic between 1501 and 1866, and that about 10.7 million survived to land in the Americas. Most were landed in Brazil and the Caribbean; fewer than 400,000 were landed in mainland North America.
The largest Protestant body in the United States confesses that many of its forebears defended the right to own slaves, and took part in, supported or went along with the inhumane nature of American slavery, and it apologises to African-Americans.
Verse by verse
Exodus 21:20-21 — Torah, Shemot, chapter 21, verses 20-21
“And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished. Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.”
Cited for
Christians read the law of Moses on slaves as a limit on masters in an ancient society, not as an approval of slavery.
The response
The limit it sets is that a master is punished only if the slave dies at once; if the slave survives a day or two, the master goes unpunished, "for he is his money". The Bible frees a beaten slave only for a lost eye or tooth. The Prophet (ﷺ) freed him for a single slap.
Where it lands — On the treatment of slaves, the Prophet's (ﷺ) law protects the slave far more than the law the critic defends.
Deuteronomy 20:13-14 — Torah, Devarim, chapter 20, verses 13-14
“And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee.”
Cited for
The taking of women and children in Deuteronomy was the custom of war in that age, and the Bible regulated it.
The response
The Qur'an and the Prophet (ﷺ) also dealt with captives, but they forbade killing the women and children, named freeing and ransom as the ways out of captivity, gave the captive woman rights, and made freeing slaves worship. Leviticus makes foreigners bondmen for ever.
Where it lands — Both scriptures speak to captives of war, and only one of them opens doors to their freedom.
Perspectives
The critic's charge
Critics say Islam lets Muslim men capture women in war and keep them for sex. They say the group calling itself the Islamic State showed what that means.
A religion that allowed a man relations with women he owned cannot be from God.
Rebuttal
The critic's own Bible allowed the same. Abraham and Jacob had children by their wives' slave women, given to them by their wives (Genesis 16:3; Genesis 30:4). Its law speaks of a slave girl whose master "hath betrothed her to himself" (Exodus 21:8). It lets a soldier take a captive woman he desires as his wife after a month (Deuteronomy 21:10-14). After the war with Midian, Moses orders the girls "that have not known a man" to be kept alive "for yourselves" (Numbers 31:18). A man who lies with a slave woman promised to another man is not put to death, "because she was not free" (Leviticus 19:20). Solomon had three hundred concubines besides his wives (1 Kings 11:3). Islam's law on the captive woman came with a waiting time, rights for her, and many doors to freedom.
Classical Islamic law allowed a master relations with a female captive he owned.
Rebuttal
Yes, the classical law allowed it, inside the slavery of its time. But that law still bound the master. He had to wait a set time, he could never put her into prostitution, a woman he injured went free, and the mother of his child went free when he died. Slavery itself is now forbidden in Islam. Over 120 Muslim scholars told the leader of ISIS that it had been abolished by universal consensus, and that bringing it back is forbidden. Today no one may own another person, so none of these rules can apply.
The modern objection: no limit makes it right
Many critics who have no religion reject any law letting a master have relations with a woman he owned. It is wrong in itself, they say, whatever limits came with it.
Critics say classical Islamic law let a master have relations with a captive he owned. No limit, they say, makes that right.
Rebuttal
Islam found slavery everywhere. It closed every way a free person could be made a slave, except capture in a lawful war. It called freeing slaves "the path that is steep", and made it a way to make up for sins. It forbade forcing slave women into prostitution. It ruled that a woman who bore her master a child could never be sold, and went free when he died. Muslim scholars and fatwa bodies today hold slavery forbidden, and over 120 scholars condemned its revival by ISIS.
The Islamic perspective
Islam found slavery everywhere. It closed every way a free person could be made a slave, except capture in a lawful war. It gave the slave and the captive woman rights, and made freeing slaves an act of worship and a way to make up for sin. It pointed the way to freedom. The Prophet (ﷺ) died pleading for slaves, and today Muslim scholars hold slavery forbidden.
The Prophet (ﷺ) forbade selling any free person into slavery.
The Qur'an names freeing as a favour or for ransom as the ways to end a captive's captivity.
The Prophet (ﷺ) ordered slaves fed and clothed as their owners were, and made freedom the atonement for a slap.
The Qur'an forbids forcing slave women into prostitution.
No man could have relations with a captive woman before a waiting period had passed.
The Hanbali jurist al-Buhuti held that a slave woman must be set free if her master injured her. This applied when he forced himself on her when she could not bear it.
The Caliph Umar ruled on a slave woman who bore her master a child. She could never be sold, and went free when he died.
The Qur'an makes freeing slaves the steep path, a use of zakat, and the atonement for three sins.
Among the Prophet's (ﷺ) last words was a plea to fear Allah (﷾) in how slaves are treated. And he left no slave when he died.
Muslim scholars and fatwa authorities today hold slavery forbidden. Over 120 scholars condemned its revival by ISIS.
The Bible lets a master go unpunished if a beaten slave lives a day or two, and frees a beaten slave only for a lost eye or tooth. The Prophet (ﷺ) made a single slap cost the master his slave.