Slavery and Islam

CONTENTS

Introduction: Can We Talk About Slavery?

What I Argue in this Book

Apology for Slavery?

Power and the Study of Slavery

Blackness, Whiteness and Slavery

1. Does ‘Slavery’ Exist? The Problem of Definition

The Main Argument

Definition: A Creative Process

Definition to Discourse: A Political Process

Defining ˈslā-v(ə-)rē: We Know It When We See It

Defining Slavery as Status or a Condition

Slavery as Unfreedom

Slavery as Human Property

Slavery as Distinction: The Lowest Rung & Marginality

Slavery as Coercion & Exploitation under the Threat of Violence

The Problem with Modern-Day Slavery

Slavery & Islam – A Very Political Question

Conclusion: Of Course, Slavery Exists

The Proper Terms for Speaking about ‘Slavery’

2. Slavery in the Shariah

What Islam Says about Slavery – Ideals and Reality

Slavery in the Quran & Sunna

Inheriting the Near East – Roman, Jewish and Near Eastern Laws versus Islam

Islam’s Reform of Slavery

Basic Principles of Riqq in the Shariah

The Ambiguities of Slavery in the Shariah

Riqq & Rights in the Shariah

Summary: Law and Ethics

3. Slavery in Islamic Civilization

What is Islamic Civilization?

Is there ‘Islamic Slavery’?

The Shariah & Islamic Slavery

The Classic Slavery Zone

Consuming People & ‘Ascending Miscegenation’

Slave Populations

Routes of the Muslim Slave Trade

Blackness and Slavery in Islamic Civilization

The Roles and Experiences of Slaves in Islamic Civilization

The Slave as Uprooted Person and Commodity

The Slave as Domestic Labor . . . Even Trusted Member of a Household

Slave as Sexual Partner

Slave as Saint, Scholar or Poet

Slave as Elite Administrator & Courtesan

Slave as Soldier – When Soldiers often Ruled

Slave as Rebel

4. The Slavery Conundrum

No Squaring the Circle: The American/Islamic Slavery Conundrum

Slavery is Evil

Religions and Slavery

Slavery is Slavery: The Problem of Labeling ‘Slavery’ with One Moral Judgment

The Past as Moral Authority: Can We Part with the Past?

5. Abolishing Slavery in Islam

Is Abolition Indigenous to Islam or Not?

Islam as Emancipatory Force – An Alternative History

Abolishing Slavery . . . For Whom? Concentric Circles of Abolition

‘The Lawgiver Looks Expectantly Towards Freedom’ – Abolition as an Aim of the Shariah

Doubling Down – Progressive Islam & the Axiomatic Evil of Slavery

Prohibited by the Ruler but Not by God: The Crucial Matter of Taqyid al-Mubah

If You Can’t Do it Right, You Can’t Do it at All – Prohibiting Riqq Poorly Done

Same Shariah, Diff erent Conditions – The Obsolescence or Unfavorability of Slavery

Slavery: A Moot Point & Bad PR

Defending Slavery in Islam

6. The Prophet & ISIS: Evaluating Muslim Abolition

Do Muslim Approaches to Abolition Pass Moral Muster?

A Consensus on Abolition

Could Slavery in Islam ever be Unabolished?

Abolition vs. ISIS

This Author’s Opinion

7. Concubines and Consent: Can We Solve the Moral Problem of Slavery?

Species of Moral Change

Moral Disgust at Slavery Today

Conclusion & Crisis: Concubinage and Consent

Disbelief is Unproductive



Appendices

Select Bibliography

Notes

Index