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Slavegirls/Concubines...Maria Qibtia?
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[quote]I have bothered Bro Tariq Hashmi quite a lot on this issue. He is of the opinion that the Prophet (sws) did, in fact, keep slaves. Of course, he has bases for his opinions and I totally respect that. One leg of the Q/A and is as follows: [b]Question:[/b] [red]Thanks for responding. I've read just about any answer on the issue of slavery, and the Prophet (sws) having kept concubines. The one reason that is given again and again, as do you, is that slavery was an established institute worldwide at the time, and by keeping one for himself, the Prophet (sws) was able to pave the way for its eradication, by first teaching people how to treat their slaves. Fortunately or unfortunately, the argument doesn't appeal to me. If slavery were to exist in the world today, and you had a leader, trying to convince his people to rid themselves of slavery, how much would you listen to him, if he were to say, "For starters, I'm keeping a slave and demonstrating to you, how they ought to be treated!" That's the very first criticism you - or at least, I - will level against him i.e. hypocricy. Please don't construe this as an attempt to defile our dearest Prophet (sws). I love him, and I am only attempting to either understand what he did, oMy r perhaps, whether he did this at all. The argument for demonstrating the fair treatment of slaves has been taken up by many Shia leaders to the level of practicality. They have kept slavegirls, in order to demonstrate to people how they ought to be treated! Also, there are many books today that suggest Maria Qibtia was a wife, and not a concubine. Why would you disagree with those? My questions, I must humbly declare, remain unanswered.[/red] [b]Answer:[/b] [blue]I think I have not been able to explain certain points. I understand you think it very odd that a person advocating abolition of slavery would keep one himself. This issue cannot be solved if we suppose that the Prophet married Maria the Copt for he is reported to have kept a number of slaves. Your objection is not to keeping Maria the Copt but to keeping the slaves. Right? You say that the Prophet’s kept a slave girl and this was a step taken in the process to eradicate the institution of slavery. You are told this he did to present before the people how to deal with the slaves. His behaviour and the ideal he is out to advocate are not mutually compatible. His act cannot be explained merely to consider it setting example to follow. This is just to suppose that the Prophet drank wines etc. I think you miss a point there (though owing to my inadequate explanation I must admit). Keeping slaves may be a graver sin than drinking alcohol but the two are different in nature. The former is a social problem. It is not personal one unlike the latter one. I mean that if the Prophet (Sws) or anyone else stops drinking wines that would not harm any party. But if he frees all his slaves instantly and sets an example for people to follow then all pious people would do so thus throwing in the streets millions of the slaves impossible for the state and the society to cope with. Such a directive can be difficult to impose in fact. The society never accepts any directive that is against its trends and ideals. The Messengers of God never take drastic acts in such situation where the whole social and financial structure is involved. Take for example the problem of child labor today. It is a general consensus that it is an evil. But what would a wise and pious person do when a child comes to him for employment? Will he drive him away? I do not think so for you know that the child is resolved upon working and if you not take him he can to some cruel person. He can be made to work unpaid and can be forced to go through many other social hardships and psychological traumas. Take another example. Everyone knows that participating in financial transactions in which interest is involved is a grave sin. Do all the pious people and ideal personalities of today not benefit from the same banking system? Do we find any way out? Yet another example. We all believe that jahez (dower) is a great curse for the society. Do not we give our daughters and sisters enough to save them from being driven mad by the people? All such social ills can be treated through affective education and gradual process. Many particles of social fabric of the society, various aspect of the common mind need to be changed first many developments in the financial set up of the society has to be achieved first. It will of course take considerable time to make the society feel that such and such thing is an evil and to pave the way for the new ideals to materialize. Before that is achieved this time of progress and development the slaves will of course remain in the society. If God gives him any the Prophet (sws) needs to keep them. That is why we see that the Prophet (sws) kept them, gave them respect and treated them as family members. This question bothers all and so it did bother me. I discussed it with my teachers and fellows and finally Mr. Javed Ahmed Ghamidi who pointed to these facts. I have tried to mention the important points he pointed out. I would suggest you try to discuss this with him. May be I am missing some important things and the point remains always unexplained. Regards, Tariq Mahmood Hashmi Research Assistant[/blue] [b][limegreen]Now, my concern was and is:[/b] Thanks a lot for your patience. What you are answering is why he chose not to free his slaves. Reasonable arguments for that. But why did he keep any in the first place? And once that answer is solved, the next question would be, if he did keep them, why have sexual relations with them, when he had so many wives (not that not having any would justify relations with the former)? Fidelity to one's spouse is not just an Islamic virtue, but a universal thing, which many Muslims scholars will refer to as "human nature". Why is it so conveniently shunned when it comes to the Prophet (sws)? Or is this just a myth we insist on developing and developing and developing just to satify our conscience, since no other answer has so far been effectively derived? [/limegreen] I would request your(i.e. all those involved here and all those interested) insights. Wasalaam.[/quote]
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