Muhammad the kindred to Humanity — Page 24
24 slaves were to be fed and clothed in the same manner as their masters and were not to be asked to do what the masters themselves would not do. If a master, for instance, would not do scavenging himself, he had no right to ask his slave to do it. Further the slaves were to be helped in whatever they were asked to do. In this way the Prophet cut short by a stroke, as it were, the miseries of slavery. . He further taught his followers to set the slaves free as an act of benevolence, or let them off in return for compensation. He ruled that nobody could be a slave all his life. This was absolutely forbidden. A slave was a slave only so long as he did not pay his indeminty or was not set free in some other way. The lawfulness of taking prisoners of war and restricting their liberty is certainly rocongnized by Islam. And nobody can blame it for this, because without it, a people would either put an end to their own existence or else, others would bring them to naught. . Solicitude for Women. Then take the other class of the oppressed-the women. . How pitiable was their plight! They were but chattels and were treated and divided as part of one's inheritance. Baby girls were buried alive in the earth. In short they were treated as a wretched and fallen lot. The Prophet taught. The best amongst you is he who is best towards his womenfolk," and thus succeeded in correcting the wrongs from which women were suffering, He protected the interest of women by teaching that whosoever had but two daughters and he gave them proper education and good moral training, will have his abode in paradise. About mothers, he taught that not the slightest disrespect was to be shown to them. . In short in the words of the Holy Quran, hard it was for the Prophet to bear their distress. . Solicitude for the Depressed. The third class of people whom he liberated were those usually called the depressed. Of them he said, "The