Islam and Slavery — Page 33
33. With regard to this doubt it must, in the first place, be remembered that there is a world of difference between the conditions that prevailed 1,350 years ago and those that obtain in the present day. And as the teachings of. Islam with regard to the existing slaves pertained to the peculiar conditions of those times while the real and fundamental teachings of Islam about slavery were quite different, as will be seen from what follows, therefore it is not right to institute any comparison between the Holy. Prophet of Islam and modern reformers of Europe and. America. If immediate and universal emancipation did not prove injurious in the persent age, it does not follow that it would not have proved injurious in days gone by and under conditions widely different from those now prevailing. In the days of the Holy Prophet the moral and social condition of the slaves was extremely degraded, while the condition of society and the standard of civilisation in those days was quite different from that now prevailing. In the time of the Holy Prophet the only wise course was to emancipate the slaves gradually, and not all at once; for, in the latter case the result would have been certainly disastrous rather than beneficial. . This is a general answer that can be given to the above question. But the truth is that the plan followed by. Islam is the best and wisest plan under all circumstances; and every fair-minded man who will coolly ponder over the question will come to the same conclusion at which we have arrived. Jesus says, "The tree is known by its fruit. ". Taking this very wise maxim as our criterion, let us see which of the two systems proved more advantageous and