The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume II — Page 216
Seal of the Prophets - Volume II 216 In these Aḥādīth , the clear, precise and emphatic manner in which real slavery has been abolished does not require an elaboration. Then, these Aḥādīth are those, which have been classified as Ḥadīth-e-Qudsī in the terminology of the Muḥaddithīn. They are narrations, which have been related by the tongue of the Holy Prophet sa , but the commandments and words are of God Himself. Now, in the presence of this clear and lucid teaching, for someone to assert that Islām has deemed real slavery as being lawful, i. e. , Islām permits that a free person may be deprived of his legal right to freedom and taken as a real slave, is a grave injustice, which no honest person can dare to commit. Issue of Prisoners of War Now we take up the question of prisoners of war. In actuality, if there is any case in which slavery can be understood as being permissible, it is only in the case just mentioned. However, as shall soon become evident, in actuality, this type of slavery cannot be categorised as real slavery, rather, it has been given this name merely due to a partial resemblance. Then, Islām has imposed such conditions on even this pseudo slavery that it ceases to remain a universal phenomenon. Quite the contrary, it becomes limited to various specific circumstances. The first thing that should be known in this discussion is that, just as a study of world history reveals, it was with prisoners of war that slavery began in the world. Gradually thereafter, other cruel practices were invented as well. Due to this, slavery, which was actually a natural outcome of the circumstances of the ancient era, took on a very horrific form. Instead of becoming a means to end oppression, which was its original purpose, it became a dangerous tool for persecution and tyranny. Initially, the custom was that when one nation would attack another, and seek to eliminate it from the face of the earth, or desire to subjugate it by snatching away its freedom without purpose, the latter nation would take the men of the combatant nation as captives and detain them upon gaining victory over them. Although afterwards, many other cruel practices were also introduced (which were not only eliminated by Islām, rather, even the initial practice mentioned above was further refined and improved, and given a remarkably purer state). If unjust people had not been detained in this manner, international wars would never have come to an end. Furthermore, the unjust would never have refrained from their cruelties and disturbing designs, and the arena of tyranny and oppression would have continued to expand. As such, history reveals that in