Islam and Slavery — Page 44
44 as members of their own family, that particular care was to be taken to educate and upbring them, and that they were to be set free as soon as their condition improved and they became fit to live independently, Islam could also have taught that it was allowable to permanently deprive a free man of his rightful liberty and reduce him to a state of slavery and bondage. The two teachings are poles apart from each other and cannot form part of the teachings of one and the same person. Thus, the very teachings of Islam with regard to the treatment and the gradual emancipation of slaves, which have been outlined above, is a clear proof of the fact that Islam does not sanction slavery. . The second indirect evidence of the prohibition of slavery in Islam is furnished by the fact that nowhere in. Islamic literature has it been laid down, that it is permissible to enslave a free man by depriving him of his right of freedom, or that such and such procedure should be adopted when a free man is to be made a slave, whereas the Islamic law comprises detailed directions for all other matters connected with slaves and slavery, such as the extension of kind treatment toward them, the protection of their rights, their emancipation, etc. , etc. That Islam has given detailed directions with regard to all other matters relating to slavery, but has totally refrained from giving any direction whatever legalising the enslavement of free man leaves no doubt as to the fact that Islam does really look upon slavery as unlawful. One would search in vain for any verse of the Quran or any saying of the Holy Prophet showing that enslavement of free men is allowablė, or that 鲁