Slavery and Islam-Part One: Sex Slavery

The history of slavery and its abolition in the United States has been written in blood. While many Americans foolishly believe that slavery began with Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World and ended with the Emancipation Proclamation, that is simply not the case. But what they do not know, and has been carefully ignored by progressive historians, is the relationship between Islam and slavery. While the historic roots of Islam's impact on the slave trade run deep, this series will focus on the modern slavery still rampant in Islamic cultures.

Recently, a couple of videos featuring Egyptian cleric Abi-Ishaq al-Huwayni have been making the rounds. In his first clip, the prominent Islamic scholar explained that, "The poverty that we're in-is it not due to our abandonment of jihad?" He goes on to say that jihadist raids against the West could solve Muslims' economic woes because, "Every mujahid who returned from jihad, his pockets would be full. He would return with 3 or 4 slaves, 3 or 4 women, and 3 or 4 children (emphasis added)." While this may sound shocking to Western ears, for the past millennium the practice of slavery has been the cornerstone of Islamic economics (see my earlier post "Better Dead than Dhimmi").

Of all the forms of slavery condoned by Islam, the most horrific is the practice of sex-slavery, whereby young girls are bought and sold to be used as the playthings of Muslim men. In Islamic jurisprudence, these slave girls have very few rights and can be used and discarded on a whim. In the case of these slaves, normal Islamic rules governing behavior between men and women do not apply. For example, according to Koran 4:24, "And all married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your right hands possess." That means that, even if a slave is married to someone else, it is not adultery to use her for sex. Slaves were also given reduced status in the eyes of the law. Koran 2:178 says, "O ye who believe! Retaliation is prescribed for you in the matter of the murdered; the freeman for the freeman, and the slave for the slave, and the female for the female (emphasis added)." According to this passage, slave girls would have both their slave status and the fact that they were women held against them. If a slave girl was killed by her master, the consequences would be nowhere near as severe as if the master killed a free Muslim man, essentially amounting to a slap on the wrist.

This may seem like a custom from the medieval era, but in reality sexual slavery is still not all that uncommon in the Islamic world. In many places, such as Egypt or Pakistan, Christian women are kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam and marry a Muslim man. Under sharia law, returning to Christianity is punishable by death. Many of these forced brides are "kept as virtual slaves." In addition, human trafficking is a booming business in Muslim countries like Syria, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Eritrea, and Mauritania (keep an eye out. Some of these countries are going to pop up again and again in this series).

The most important thing to remember is that, while Christianity demands spiritual growth and the free acceptance of God's grace, Islam is static. Through the Koran and the Hadith, there is no aspect of a Muslim's life that is left unregulated. Islam also discounts the existence of free will as an insult against Allah's supremacy (for an all-powerful deity, Allah is awfully sensitive). As a result, because slavery is not only accepted but mandated as the birthright of all Muslims, you will never see a serious Islamic movement to abolish slavery. The only reason slavery is officially illegal in the Middle East today is because it was outlawed by the Western empires.

With Islamism gaining more power, we have begun to see more public calls for the restoration of legal slavery. Our good buddy al-Huwayni had a recent telephone interview in which he attempted to clarify his earlier position, which he said was taken out of context. "Do you understand what I'm saying?" he asked. "Spoils, slaves, and prisoners are only to be taken in war between Muslims and infidels." Oh. Okay. So he wanted to put in context that slaves are only to be taken from unbelieving population. 'Cause that was totally misunderstood in the first video. But then he doubled down on his slavery comments by saying, "When I want a sex slave, I just go to the market and choose the woman I like and purchase her. I choose the man I like, one with strong muscles, or if I want a boy to work in the house, and so forth. I choose one, and pay him a wage. I employ him in a variety of different tasks, then I sell him afterwards." So not only does he not want Muslim slaves, he endorses slavery for all unbelieving men, women, and children. Talk about an equal opportunity employer, huh?

But it's not just one influential Egyptian cleric who endorses enslaving infidels. Female political activist and former candidate for the Kuwaiti parliament Salwa al-Mutairi has called for legislation to legalize enslaved female concubines for Muslim men. She said that Muslim men fear being seduced into immoral behavior by beautiful female servants and that some of these servants have been "casting spells" on them. These poor men, who lack the free will to keep it in their pants, risk committing adultery if they have sex outside of marriage. Of course, slave girls don't count, so they can be used to satisfy the Muslim men until a real wife (or four) comes along. Like al-Huwayni, al-Mutairi says that "free" Muslim women cannot be sex slaves. Instead, she suggests blonde women taken from Russia because Muslim men prefer blonde women. Apparently blondes don't always have more fun. She tries to sell it as humanitarian: "In such a case (the "Chechnyan war") there must be POWs, so why not go and buy those prisoners? Is it better for them to be slaughtered over there?" In her mind, there is no possibility of releasing the prisoners, so why not make a little profit on the side?

There are many elements of Islamic philosophy wrapped up in the issue of slavery, particularly sex slavery, but there are some that are worthy of special attention. First, all non-Muslims are sub-human and worthy only of death or slavery. Second, Muslim men have no free will of their own to resist temptation so other arrangements must be provided in order to protect their honor (a group concept in Islam, remember). Every sexual whim must be granted, either by a wife or a slave girl, and the same system carries over into Paradise. Third, all efforts to spread Islam must crush the will to resist within the infidel populations and make them easier to convert or destroy. That is why the Coptic community in Egypt is particularly hard-hit by kidnappings and forced marriages. And fourth, the war against the infidels must be viewed through pragmatic eyes. To paraphrase al-Mutairi, why kill a defeated enemy when you can make him (or her) your slave?

Legalized slavery may have ended in the West, but if the Islamists have their way we could see clerics from Dearborn to Hamburg claiming their "divine right." Where are the apologists for Islam on this issue? For that matter, where is the media or the government? Every minute they spend blind to the realities on the ground, more people will be sent into a life of servitude. Hopefully this series will open some eyes to the situation. The more people who know the truth, the harder it will be for the enemies of freedom to maintain their illusions.