Fear Of Democracy (Why The Left Refuses To Stand Up For Free Speech Alert)

Jerusalem Post ^ | 4/04/2008 | Caroline Glick

[Milhous]

The Scourge of Slavery

SHARIA LAW AND SLAVERY

Islam's Black Slaves notes: "the Quran stipulated that female slaves might lawfully be enjoyed by their masters." Mohammad himself owned many slaves, some of whom he captured in wars of conquest and some he purchased. The names of forty slaves owned by Mohammad are recorded by Muslim chroniclers. Islamic law (Sharia) contains elaborate regulations for slavery. A slave had no right to be heard in court (testimony was forbidden by slaves), slaves had no right to property, could marry only with the permission of the owner, and were considered to be chattel, that is the movable property, of the slave owner. Muslim slave owners were specifically entitled by Sharia law to sexually exploit their slaves, including hiring them out as prostitutes.

One reason why very little has been written about the Arab involvement in slavery is that traditional Islamic culture still condones slavery. The Sharia, the codified Islamic law which is based upon the teachings and example of Mohammad, contains explicit regulations for slavery. One of the primary principles of Islam is following the example of Mohammad. Whatever Mohammad did, we must do, what he forbade, we must forbid, what he did not forbid, we may not forbid. As Mohammad himself traded in slaves and owned slaves, accumulating multiple wives, even marrying a six year old, and having concubines - slavery and the sexual exploitation of women is deeply ingrained in Islamic tradition. Muslim nations had engaged in the slave trade for over 600 years before Europe became involved in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

SLAVERY TODAY

Almost 200 years after the British outlawed the slave trade in 1807, slave raids and the sale of slaves in Muslim markets continues in countries like Sudan. The slave trade remained legal in Saudi Arabia until 1962, when under international pressure it was finally abolished. However, there are persistent, credible reports, that slavery persists in Saudi Arabia, and even that slaves from Sudan are ending up in Saudi Arabia.

Recently, a former slave from the Nuba Mountains of Sudan, Mende Nazer, had her autobiography: "Slave: My True Story" published. Mende was captured in 1992, she was first a slave to a rich Arab family in Khartoum, and then in 2002 to a Sudanese diplomat in London, from whom she escaped and sought political asylum.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT

[Sherman Logan]

Ahh. But you didn't say the Koran allows slavery. I agree with you on that point. Incidentally, the Bible also allows slavery.

You said, "Where is the outrage over that filth which promotes the Allah endorsed automatic enslavement of blacks..."

While Islam allows, even encourages, slavery, in Islam slavery has never been race or color based. Muslims are, or at least were, perfectly happy to enslave people of any race or color. In fact, whites were preferred, especially the women. (Insert "Where the white women at?" graphic.)

Blacks are accepted as full and equal members of the Muslim community. There is undoubtedly racial or color prejudice against blacks among some Muslims, but it is not supported by the Koran, any more than similar prejudice among Christians is supported by the text of the Bible.

In addition, slavery was never automatic. Muslims were allowed to take defeated enemies as slaves, they were not required to do so.