The Slavery
Islam has no place for the worst possible abomination called slavery. The Holy Qor-aan – Spiritual Guidance Book denounced it. The Hadeeth (Reports of the acts and quotes of the Holy Prophet s.a.w ) decried it. The common sense condemns it. Few sane men ever believed in it. But Clergy in Islam still wrongly translates parts of its scripture as if slavery was an ongoing practice that adherents could follow.
The Holy Qor-aan is no joke. It was revealed for the mankind for all times to come. Its contents have come to teach, improve, reform, turn and take Man to a much higher level than that at which he was before as another creature living in the animal world ruled by the law of jungle. It must be translated to reflect the original text.
Adding words or ideas in translating the Holy Qor-aan extends those words and ideas also for the future. Authors must not interject their own ideas and biases based upon their whim. This is no unintended consequence of transferring the essence of a text in one language to another one honestly. It is serious, amounts to whatever sin, crime or wrong one chooses to label it with.
Mullah like Mullah’s Modifications and Mullah’ Jihad is no road to Peace has interpreted the phrase مَا مَلَـكَتۡ اَيۡمَانُ (maa-ma-la-kut-aiy-maa-no = what the right hands own, hold, possess or show in ownership) as slavery and made it an alive, active and allowed practice that could be practiced even in future. Some authors following the suit, inaccurately translated the verses like 004:004, 004:025, 004:026, 004:037, 023:007, 024:034 and 070:031, and in effect perpetuated the continuation of slavery.
The word مَاۤ (maa) means what, all that, whatever or whatsoever.
The word مَلَكَتۡ (ma-la-kut = verb., past., feminine gender, 3rdperson) means owned and held in ownership or servitude. The phrase is wrongly extrapolated, interpreted and translated to validate the institution of slavery by statements like ‘slave girls you own’ [N J Dawood], ‘(slaves) that your right hands possess’ [M Muhsin Khan and Taqi-ud-Din Al-Hilali], ‘(slaves and bondwomen)’ [Malik Ghulam Farid in Note 561], ‘(the captives)’ [M Marmaduke Pickthall], ‘(a captive)’ [Abdulla Yusuf Ali], ‘possess’ [Maulawi Sher Ali and Maulana Muhammad Ali] and ‘over whom you have the authority’ [M Zafrulla Khan].
The word أَيۡمَـٰنُ (aiy-maa-no = noun, plural) means right hands and refers to all that they own or control. These two words really reflect two persons who mutually agree and acknowledge by shaking their right hands as to what each of them owns or has to do.
Hardly ever in the history of mankind the Master-slave was mutually agreed relationship that a human being voluntarily chose to enter as a slave.. Today all hired personnel, employees, even volunteers in non-profits are what right hands own but are not slaves because the same work was done in the past by slaves. Translating these words as slaves is inaccurate.
The word after above phrase in verse 004:004 is كُمۡ (koom = pronoun., plural., masculine gender, 2nd person) and means you. The word after above phrase in verses 023:007 and 070:031 is هُمۡ (hoom = pronoun., plural., masculine gender, 3rd person) and means they, them or those. The Holy Qor-aan addresses that way both men and women.
The validity of Slavery is also reflected from other translations such as of verse 004:026 saying you marry the “handmaids … with the leave of their masters” [Maulawi Sher Ali] and ‘owners’ [Abdullah Yusuf Ali]
Before the Seventh century AD the evil practice of slavery was an established social order recognized and practiced in Rome, Athens with a long flourishing civilization, Arab Peninsula, and in fact the entire ancient world.
In the Eighth century AD the Holy Qor-aan in its verse 002:178 enumerated freeing of the slaves as a virtue. Many Ahadeeth show how important good deed is to free slaves. In fact freeing slaves has been prescribed as a compensation for many wrongs and an expiations for crimes.
History shows that Zaid Ibn Harithah of Bani Ma’n tribe was 8-yrs-old when captured in an attack by an opposing tribe. He was sold in the market of `Ukaadh as a prisoner of war slave. Hakīm Ibn Huzaam bought him and gave him as a gift to his aunt Khadijah bint Khuwailid who gifted ‘her servant Zaid’ to her husband the Holy Prophet s.a.w who manumitted him at once.
Had Moslems followed the teachings of the Holy Qor-aan and the precedent of the Holy Prophet s.a.w who freed the slaves that came to his ownership and urged others to do the same, the curse of slavery would have gradually ended among the Moslems soon after Islam came.
The society of human beings in the past recognized one’s ownership of property and the term included at one time the ownership of slaves. But the credit goes to the President Abraham Lincoln who set into motion a process by which in 1865 the USA abolished slavery by the 13th Amendment to its Constitution. Other nations followed the suit. Wikipedia shows on-line a great many details of the history of slavery.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drafted by people with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world. It was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A) as a common standard of achievements for all nations. It sets out the fundamental human rights to be universally protected and has been translated into over 500 languages. See our Note 023:007.
The Slavery
The Slavery
Islam has no place for the worst possible abomination called slavery. The Holy Qor-aan – Spiritual Guidance Book denounced it. The Hadeeth (Reports of the acts and quotes of the Holy Prophet s.a.w ) decried it. The common sense condemns it. Few sane men ever believed in it. But Clergy in Islam still wrongly translates parts of its scripture as if slavery was an ongoing practice that adherents could follow.
The Holy Qor-aan is no joke. It was revealed for the mankind for all times to come. Its contents have come to teach, improve, reform, turn and take Man to a much higher level than that at which he was before as another creature living in the animal world ruled by the law of jungle. It must be translated to reflect the original text.
Adding words or ideas in translating the Holy Qor-aan extends those words and ideas also for the future. Authors must not interject their own ideas and biases based upon their whim. This is no unintended consequence of transferring the essence of a text in one language to another one honestly. It is serious, amounts to whatever sin, crime or wrong one chooses to label it with.
Mullah like Mullah’s Modifications and Mullah’ Jihad is no road to Peace has interpreted the phrase مَا مَلَـكَتۡ اَيۡمَانُ (maa-ma-la-kut-aiy-maa-no = what the right hands own, hold, possess or show in ownership) as slavery and made it an alive, active and allowed practice that could be practiced even in future. Some authors following the suit, inaccurately translated the verses like 004:004, 004:025, 004:026, 004:037, 023:007, 024:034 and 070:031, and in effect perpetuated the continuation of slavery.
The word مَاۤ (maa) means what, all that, whatever or whatsoever.
The word مَلَكَتۡ (ma-la-kut = verb., past., feminine gender, 3rdperson) means owned and held in ownership or servitude. The phrase is wrongly extrapolated, interpreted and translated to validate the institution of slavery by statements like ‘slave girls you own’ [N J Dawood], ‘(slaves) that your right hands possess’ [M Muhsin Khan and Taqi-ud-Din Al-Hilali], ‘(slaves and bondwomen)’ [Malik Ghulam Farid in Note 561], ‘(the captives)’ [M Marmaduke Pickthall], ‘(a captive)’ [Abdulla Yusuf Ali], ‘possess’ [Maulawi Sher Ali and Maulana Muhammad Ali] and ‘over whom you have the authority’ [M Zafrulla Khan].
The word أَيۡمَـٰنُ (aiy-maa-no = noun, plural) means right hands and refers to all that they own or control. These two words really reflect two persons who mutually agree and acknowledge by shaking their right hands as to what each of them owns or has to do.
Hardly ever in the history of mankind the Master-slave was mutually agreed relationship that a human being voluntarily chose to enter as a slave.. Today all hired personnel, employees, even volunteers in non-profits are what right hands own but are not slaves because the same work was done in the past by slaves. Translating these words as slaves is inaccurate.
The word after above phrase in verse 004:004 is كُمۡ (koom = pronoun., plural., masculine gender, 2nd person) and means you. The word after above phrase in verses 023:007 and 070:031 is هُمۡ (hoom = pronoun., plural., masculine gender, 3rd person) and means they, them or those. The Holy Qor-aan addresses that way both men and women.
The validity of Slavery is also reflected from other translations such as of verse 004:026 saying you marry the “handmaids … with the leave of their masters” [Maulawi Sher Ali] and ‘owners’ [Abdullah Yusuf Ali]
Before the Seventh century AD the evil practice of slavery was an established social order recognized and practiced in Rome, Athens with a long flourishing civilization, Arab Peninsula, and in fact the entire ancient world.
In the Eighth century AD the Holy Qor-aan in its verse 002:178 enumerated freeing of the slaves as a virtue. Many Ahadeeth show how important good deed is to free slaves. In fact freeing slaves has been prescribed as a compensation for many wrongs and an expiations for crimes.
History shows that Zaid Ibn Harithah of Bani Ma’n tribe was 8-yrs-old when captured in an attack by an opposing tribe. He was sold in the market of `Ukaadh as a prisoner of war slave. Hakīm Ibn Huzaam bought him and gave him as a gift to his aunt Khadijah bint Khuwailid who gifted ‘her servant Zaid’ to her husband the Holy Prophet s.a.w who manumitted him at once.
Had Moslems followed the teachings of the Holy Qor-aan and the precedent of the Holy Prophet s.a.w who freed the slaves that came to his ownership and urged others to do the same, the curse of slavery would have gradually ended among the Moslems soon after Islam came.
The society of human beings in the past recognized one’s ownership of property and the term included at one time the ownership of slaves. But the credit goes to the President Abraham Lincoln who set into motion a process by which in 1865 the USA abolished slavery by the 13th Amendment to its Constitution. Other nations followed the suit. Wikipedia shows on-line a great many details of the history of slavery.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drafted by people with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world. It was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 (General Assembly resolution 217 A) as a common standard of achievements for all nations. It sets out the fundamental human rights to be universally protected and has been translated into over 500 languages. See our Note 023:007.
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