The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume II — Page 179
V - Conduct of the Holy Prophet sa with Slaves and His Teachings on the Issue of Slavery 179 advent of Islām, this practice was more or less present in all countries. In the kingdoms of Byzantium, Greece and Iran, etc. , hundreds of thousands of slaves were living a life of grief and misery. There was no one to tend to them and in their collective capacity, their state was no better than that of animals. In this era, even in the country of Arabia, there were thousands of slaves. Moreover, the possession of a certain number of slaves was considered to be a necessary part of the property of the affluent. The people of Arabia particularly considered slaves to be immensely contemptible and disgraceful, and would treat them as cruelly as they desired. As such, the severe cruelties inflicted upon such slaves who became Muslim by the chieftains of the Quraish, have been mentioned in Volume I of this book. Upon receiving revelation from God, when the Holy Prophet sa made his claim to Prophethood, one commandment from among his early teachings was that slaves should be treated with compassion and kindness. Moreover, it was in this early era when the Holy Prophet sa began to encourage the freeing of slaves as well. As a matter of fact, in this regard a Qur’ānic injunction was revealed, that the freeing of slaves was a very good deed. 1 Along with the merit and attraction of the Islāmic teaching itself, this particular injunction had a very deep effect on the slaves of Arabia. They began to perceive the voice of the Holy Prophet sa as being the voice of a Saviour. It is for this reason that despite the very ruthless cruelties inflicted upon the Muslim converts by the chieftains of Makkah, Islām began to rapidly spread among slaves. Therefore, as mentioned in Volume I of this book, the ratio of slaves among the early Muslims was extraordinarily high. Moreover, history establishes that even in the early era, these people were not considered lower than others in any way. Subsequently, as Islāmic injunctions continued to be revealed, the position of slaves became more and more stronger and their conditions continued to improve. Ultimately, except for a difference in administration, where one individual was an officer and the other was his subordinate, no discrimination remained. On the other hand, the liberation movement of slaves continued to gain strength day by day, and the Muslims participated in this scheme with a spirit of healthy competition according to the emphatic teaching of the Holy Prophet sa and his practical example. Hence, the Holy Qur’ān, books of Aḥādīth , and history are replete with these accounts. However, in this regard, the question is whether the work of the Holy 1 Al-Balad (90:14)