Table of Contents
The Reality of Slavery and the Message of Justice
In order to understand the Prophet’s ﷺ approach to slavery, it is essential to remember the world into which he was sent. Slavery was not a marginal or rare practice. It was a global institution, deeply embedded in the economies, armies, and households of almost every civilization, including Arabia. Islam did not arise in a vacuum, nor did it address slavery in an abstract way. It dealt with real human beings, real power structures, and real suffering, step by step, with a clear moral direction.
The Qur’an and Sunnah did not present slavery as an ideal or as a goal. Instead, they gradually undermined its roots, restricted its avenues, preserved the dignity and rights of those already in bondage, and opened numerous doors for freedom. At the same time, they established a comprehensive vision of social justice that protected the weak and rebalanced a society structured on privilege, lineage, and raw power.
This chapter looks specifically at how the Prophet ﷺ dealt with slavery and social injustice, without repeating what is covered in other chapters about his general character or political leadership. The focus here is on the practical steps, legal reforms, and lived example he left regarding slaves, the poor, and the socially marginalized.
Key idea: The Seerah shows that Islam did not create slavery, but came into a world where slavery was universal, then restricted it, dignified the enslaved, made freeing them an act of worship, and set a moral direction toward a just society where no human is degraded for the benefit of another.
Slavery Before Islam and the Qur’anic Turning Point
In pre‑Islamic Arabia, people were enslaved through warfare, kidnapping, debt, and even by selling their own children. Slaves were considered property. Their masters could beat them, sell them, separate families, and even kill them without legal consequence. There was no concept of compensation, rights, or spiritual equality. The status of a slave was defined entirely by force, tribe, and wealth.
The Qur’an confronted this existing reality by introducing a radically different principle about human origin and worth. Allah says:
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا ۚ إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ
“O mankind, We have created you from a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another. Surely, the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you.”
(Qur’an 49:13)
This verse stripped away claims of superiority based on lineage, race, or social class. While it did not immediately abolish slavery in legal terms, it changed the moral and spiritual framework. Any system that treated some humans as inherently inferior stood in conflict with this standard of taqwa as the only true measure of worth.
Similarly, the Qur’an repeatedly mentions freeing slaves as a virtuous act and an essential part of righteousness. Allah says:
لَّيْسَ الْبِرَّ أَن تُوَلُّوا وُجُوهَكُمْ قِبَلَ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ وَلَـٰكِنَّ الْبِرَّ مَنْ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ ... وَآتَى الْمَالَ عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِ ذَوِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَالْيَتَامَىٰ وَالْمَسَاكِينَ ... وَفِي الرِّقَابِ
“Righteousness is not that you turn your faces toward the east or the west, but righteousness is [in] one who believes in Allah and the Last Day ... and gives wealth, in spite of love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy ... and for freeing slaves (in the cause of freeing necks).”
(Qur’an 2:177)
The phrase “freeing necks” describes liberating human beings whose necks are held by others. Righteousness is defined partly as spending wealth to remove that constraint. In this way, the Qur’an placed the emancipation of slaves at the heart of piety.
Restricting the Sources of Slavery
The Prophet ﷺ did not accept the open, unlimited ways in which people could be enslaved in pre‑Islamic Arabia. Under his guidance, the avenues that produced new slaves were sharply restricted.
The most important restriction was that, as the Islamic law developed, the only generally recognized source of new slaves was captured enemies during legitimate warfare. Raiding free persons, kidnapping, or enslaving people unjustly was forbidden. The Prophet ﷺ said:
قَالَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى: ثَلَاثَةٌ أَنَا خَصْمُهُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ ... وَرَجُلٌ بَاعَ حُرًّا فَأَكَلَ ثَمَنَهُ
“Allah the Exalted said: Three persons I will be an opponent to them on the Day of Resurrection ... and a man who sells a free person and eats his price.”
(Sahih al‑Bukhari)
Here, selling a free person as a slave is treated as such a great injustice that Allah Himself declares enmity to the perpetrator on the Day of Judgment. This established that the original state of a human being is freedom, and that treating a free person as property is a grave crime.
In practice, this forced the institution of slavery into a narrow corner, linked to war and prisoners of war, while at the same time, as we will see, multiple paths for their eventual freedom were put into place.
Dignity, Equality, and Brotherhood
The Prophet ﷺ not only taught rules about slaves. He transformed the way believers saw them. He erased the spiritual barrier between master and slave.
One of the clearest teachings is his statement:
أَخْوَانُكُمْ خَوَلُكُمْ، جَعَلَهُمُ اللَّهُ تَحْتَ أَيْدِيكُمْ، فَمَنْ كَانَ أَخُوهُ تَحْتَ يَدِهِ فَلْيُطْعِمْهُ مِمَّا يَأْكُلُ، وَلْيُلْبِسْهُ مِمَّا يَلْبَسُ، وَلَا تُكَلِّفُوهُمْ مَا يَغْلِبُهُمْ، فَإِنْ كَلَّفْتُمُوهُمْ فَأَعِينُوهُمْ
“Your slaves are your brothers whom Allah has placed under your authority. So whoever has his brother under his hand, let him feed him from what he eats, and clothe him from what he wears. Do not burden them with what overpowers them, and if you burden them, then help them.”
(Sahih al‑Bukhari, Sahih Muslim)
Here, he called them “your brothers,” not just your possessions. He ordered that they be treated with the same food and clothing as their masters, a revolutionary standard in a society where slaves were habitually treated as sub‑human.
Another narration shows his deep concern for their dignity. Abu Dharr رضي الله عنه once insulted a man by referring to his mother in a derogatory racial way. The Prophet ﷺ said to him:
إِنَّكَ امْرُؤٌ فِيكَ جَاهِلِيَّةٌ
“You are a man in whom there is some ignorance (of Jahiliyyah).”
(Sahih al‑Bukhari, Sahih Muslim)
Abu Dharr, in response, placed his cheek on the ground and told the man to put his foot on it, to make up for the offense, showing how seriously he took the Prophet’s ﷺ rebuke. This and similar incidents show that racial, tribal, or class arrogance was treated as a remnant of the pre‑Islamic age of ignorance, not as a permissible attitude in Islam.
Core principle: Before Allah, master and slave, Arab and non‑Arab, white and black, rich and poor are equal in humanity and accountable only by taqwa. Any claim of superiority based on race, status, or ownership is ignorance and sin.
Legal Protections and Kind Treatment
Beyond calling them brothers, the Prophet ﷺ established legal and ethical protections for slaves. In pre‑Islamic Arabia, a master could beat or even kill a slave without penalty. In Islam, causing unjust harm became a moral and legal offense.
The Prophet ﷺ said:
مَنْ قَتَلَ عَبْدَهُ قَتَلْنَاهُ، وَمَنْ جَدَعَهُ جَدَعْنَاهُ
“Whoever kills his slave, we will kill him, and whoever mutilates him, we will mutilate him.”
(Sunan an‑Nasai; some scholars discussed chains, but the meaning is supported by other texts)
Even where specific legal applications varied with context, it is clear that the Prophet ﷺ forbade cruelty and bound Muslims to higher standards.
In another hadith, he warned:
مَنْ لَطَمَ مَمْلُوكَهُ أَوْ ضَرَبَهُ فَكَفَّارَتُهُ أَنْ يُعْتِقَهُ
“Whoever slaps his slave or beats him, his expiation is to free him.”
(Sahih Muslim)
In other words, an act of abuse required the master to give up his ownership and liberate the person he wronged. This reflected a deep moral logic. If a person could not handle power without injustice, they should lose that power.
He also defined kindness to slaves as part of the very definition of good Muslim character. He said:
خِيَارُكُمْ خِيَارُكُمْ لِأَهْلِهِ
“The best of you are those who are best to their families (and household).”
(Tirmidhi)
Classical scholars understood “family” here to include all who live under a person’s care, including slaves and servants. The Prophet ﷺ made their treatment a measure of one’s faith and character.
Freeing Slaves as Worship and Expiation
One of the most powerful tools the Prophet ﷺ used to challenge the institution of slavery was to place the freeing of slaves at the heart of many acts of worship and expiation of sins. The Qur’an itself repeatedly mentions this.
Allah says about one of the means to rescue oneself from Hellfire:
فَلَا اقْتَحَمَ الْعَقَبَةَ وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا الْعَقَبَةُ فَكُّ رَقَبَةٍ
“But he has not attempted the uphill path. And what will make you know what the uphill path is? It is the freeing of a slave (freeing a neck).”
(Qur’an 90:11‑13)
Another verse ties freeing slaves to expiation for certain sins. In the case of involuntary manslaughter, Allah says:
وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ أَن يَقْتُلَ مُؤْمِنًا إِلَّا خَطَئًا ... فَتَحْرِيرُ رَقَبَةٍ مُّؤْمِنَةٍ
“It is not for a believer to kill a believer except by mistake. And whoever kills a believer by mistake, then the freeing of a believing slave is required...”
(Qur’an 4:92)
The Prophet ﷺ also directed people who committed certain major mistakes to free slaves. For example, in a well‑known case, a man had marital relations with his wife during the day in Ramadan. The Prophet ﷺ told him:
“Can you free a slave?”
The man answered that he could not.
(Sahih al‑Bukhari, Sahih Muslim)
The hadith continues with other compensations, but the first option given was freeing a slave. This pattern appears in multiple rulings. Whenever a serious wrong is done, freeing a slave becomes a path to erase or reduce its consequences. As a result, across the Prophet’s ﷺ society, many believers were motivated to purchase slaves for the purpose of liberating them.
Important pattern: The Qur’an and Sunnah turned slave‑emancipation into a repeated form of worship and a frequent expiation for sins, so that wealth and piety naturally flowed toward freeing human beings, not acquiring them.
Formal Paths to Freedom: Mukatabah and Others
Beyond voluntary emancipation, the Prophet ﷺ oversaw and approved structured legal mechanisms that allowed slaves to secure their freedom step by step.
One of the clearest of these is the contract of mukatabah. Allah says:
وَالَّذِينَ يَبْتَغُونَ الْكِتَابَ مِمَّا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ فَكَاتِبُوهُمْ إِنْ عَلِمْتُمْ فِيهِمْ خَيْرًا ۖ وَآتُوهُم مِّن مَّالِ اللَّهِ الَّذِي آتَاكُمْ
“And those of your slaves who seek a contract [for freedom], then contract with them if you know there is good in them, and give them from the wealth of Allah which He has given you.”
(Qur’an 24:33)
A mukatabah contract allowed a slave to agree with the master on a certain sum or work to be completed, after which the slave would be freed. The Prophet ﷺ implemented this guidance and encouraged support for such contracts. The wealth of zakat could also be used to help them fulfill their side, as indicated by the Qur’anic mention of “في الرقاب” in the categories of zakat (Qur’an 9:60).
Alongside mukatabah, there were other routes. A master could free a slave as a charitable act. A slave woman who bore her master a child became an “umm walad.” In Islamic law, based on the Prophet’s ﷺ teachings, such a mother could not be sold, and upon the master’s death she would be freed, as many Companions understood it. These and other mechanisms steadily reduced the number of people who remained in bondage for life.
Transforming Lives: From Slavery to Leadership
Many of the most respected figures in the earliest Muslim community had been slaves or were the children of slaves. The Prophet ﷺ did not just free them. He gave them responsibilities, honored them, and in some cases placed them in positions of leadership.
Zayd ibn Harithah رضي الله عنه had been a slave in Makkah and was freed by the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet loved him dearly and adopted him before adoption laws were clarified. Later, Zayd was appointed commander of armies. In the Battle of Mu’tah, he led the Muslim force, even though there were Qurayshi nobles among the ranks. This showed that leadership was based on merit and taqwa, not birth or past social status.
Bilal ibn Rabah رضي الله عنه, an Abyssinian former slave, was among the earliest Muslims. He suffered severe torture from his master in Makkah for his faith, until Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه purchased and freed him. The Prophet ﷺ then chose Bilal as the first mu’adhdhin. He used to say:
يَا بِلَالُ، أَرِحْنَا بِالصَّلَاةِ
“O Bilal, give us comfort through the prayer.”
(Abu Dawud, others)
After the conquest of Makkah, it was Bilal who was asked to climb the Ka‘bah and call the adhan. In a society where color and lineage were sources of pride, this act was a direct statement that, in Islam, what counts is faith, not origin.
Another example is Salim, the freed slave of Abu Hudhayfah رضي الله عنهما. The Prophet ﷺ praised him and said about him among others:
خُذُوا الْقُرْآنَ مِنْ أَرْبَعَةٍ ... وَسَالِمٍ مَوْلَى أَبِي حُذَيْفَةَ
“Learn the Qur’an from four persons ... and Salim, the freed slave of Abu Hudhayfah.”
(Sahih al‑Bukhari)
To praise a former slave as one of the top teachers of the Qur’an was to publicly break the cultural association between knowledge, leadership, and free noble birth.
These examples were not symbolic gestures. They were practical statements that the old hierarchy had no place in the community of Muhammad ﷺ.
Social Justice Beyond Slavery
The Prophet’s ﷺ effort for social justice did not restrict itself to the people in chains. His broader mission was to construct a community where exploitation, oppression, and neglect of the weak were unacceptable. Slavery was one part of a wider structure of injustice that also included usurious debt, hoarding wealth, tribal violence, infanticide, and abuse of women and orphans.
The Qur’an consistently called believers to defend the oppressed. Allah says:
وَمَا لَكُمْ لَا تُقَاتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَالْمُسْتَضْعَفِينَ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ وَالنِّسَاءِ وَالْوِلْدَانِ
“And what is [the matter] with you that you do not fight in the path of Allah and for the oppressed among men and women and children...”
(Qur’an 4:75)
This verse connects striving in Allah’s cause with defense of the weak. The Prophet ﷺ translated this into social care: zakat, charity, fair trade, orphans’ rights, and protection of neighbors.
He taught:
أَلَا مَنْ ظَلَمَ مُعَاهَدًا، أَوِ انْتَقَصَهُ، أَوْ كَلَّفَهُ فَوْقَ طَاقَتِهِ، أَوْ أَخَذَ مِنْهُ شَيْئًا بِغَيْرِ طِيبِ نَفْسٍ، فَأَنَا حَجِيجُهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ
“Beware, whoever wrongs a non‑Muslim under covenant, or diminishes his right, or burdens him with more than he can bear, or takes from him something without his consent, I will be his opponent on the Day of Resurrection.”
(Abu Dawud)
If even a non‑Muslim under protection has such rights, then any human being under a Muslim’s authority, including a slave, certainly has rights that must not be violated.
Rule of justice: Any use of power that violates the rights of the weak, whether through violence, economic exploitation, or legal manipulation, is a betrayal of the Prophet’s ﷺ message and will be answered for before Allah.
The Prophet’s ﷺ Personal Example in Daily Dealings
Beyond general teachings, the Seerah shows how the Prophet ﷺ personally treated those who served him. Anas ibn Malik رضي الله عنه served him for ten years in Madinah. He said:
خَدَمْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ عَشْرَ سِنِينَ، فَمَا قَالَ لِي أُفٍّ قَطُّ، وَلَا قَالَ لِشَيْءٍ فَعَلْتُهُ: لِمَ فَعَلْتَ كَذَا، وَلَا لِشَيْءٍ لَمْ أَفْعَلْهُ: أَلَا فَعَلْتَ كَذَا
“I served the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for ten years. He never once said to me ‘Uff’ (an expression of annoyance), nor did he ever say about something I had done, ‘Why did you do that?’ nor about something I had not done, ‘Why did you not do that?’”
(Sahih Muslim)
Although Anas was not a slave, this report demonstrates the standard of patience and gentleness he modeled with those in a lower position. Countless narrations show that he never struck a servant or a woman, and that he consistently encouraged others to release tension through forgiveness and mercy, not anger and domination.
When a man came to him and asked, “How many times should I forgive my servant?” he replied at first with a number, and then increased it until he said to forgive him seventy times a day, as some narrations mention. The point was not a specific count, but the spirit of abundant forbearance.
From Historical Slavery to Modern Justice
The institution of chattel slavery as it existed in the pre‑modern world has been abolished in most countries today. However, the principles that the Prophet ﷺ established remain fully relevant. Human trafficking, forced labor, exploitative working conditions, racism, and social systems that keep certain groups permanently disadvantaged are all modern forms of the same injustice that slavery represented.
The Qur’anic message that:
إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ
“The most honored of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you”
(Qur’an 49:13)
and the Prophet’s ﷺ practice of lifting up the oppressed, curbing power, and channeling wealth toward liberation challenge Muslims in every era to fight against any structure that treats human beings as disposable or inferior.
Enduring lesson: To follow the Seerah in social life is to stand with the oppressed, to refuse racial and class arrogance, to ensure fair treatment of all workers and dependents, and to use wealth and power to lift people out of bondage and poverty, not to trap them in it.
By understanding how the Prophet ﷺ confronted slavery and built a culture of justice around the weakest members of society, we gain a clear model for confronting modern injustices. His life shows that true faith is not only in rituals, but in the courage to reform unjust structures, to honor every human soul, and to bring the mercy of Allah into the most difficult corners of social reality.