Overview

What happens when authorities you venerate condone something you know is wrong? Every major religion and philosophy once condoned or approved of slavery, but in modern times nothing is seen as more evil. Americans confront this crisis of authority when they erect statues of Founding Fathers who slept with their slaves. And Muslims faced it when ISIS revived sex-slavery, justifying it with verses from the Quran and the practice of Muhammad. Exploring the moral and ultimately theological problem of slavery, Jonathan A.C. Brown traces how the Christian, Jewish and Islamic traditions have tried to reconcile modern moral certainties with the infallibility of God’s message. He lays out how Islam viewed slavery in theory, and the reality of how it was practiced across Islamic civilization. Finally, Brown carefully examines arguments put forward by Muslims for the abolition of slavery.

Full Product Details

Author:   Jonathan A.C. Brown
Publisher:   Oneworld Publications
Imprint:   Oneworld Academic
Dimensions:   Width: 14.60cm , Height: 3.30cm , Length: 22.50cm
ISBN:  

9781786078391

ISBN 10:   1786078392
Pages:   448
Publication Date:   01 October 2020
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgments Notes on transliteration, dates and citation   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    Patterson & Natal Alienation 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    Religious Practice    Freedom of Movement    Social and Political Roles    Marriage and Family Life    Right to Property    Rights to Life and Physical Protection Summary: Law and Ethics   3 Slavery in Islamic Civilization What is Islamic Civilization? Is there ‘Islamic Slavery’? The Shariah & Islamic Slavery    Muslims Enslaving Muslims 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    The Intrinsic Wrongs of Slavery    Religions and Slavery    Minimizing the Unminimizable or Historicizing the Unhistoricizable Slavery is Slavery: The Problem of Labeling ‘Slavery’ with One Moral Judgment    The Moral Wrongness of Slavery as Unfreedom    The Moral Wrongness of Slavery as Owning Human Property    The Moral Wrongness of Slavery as Inequality    The Moral Wrongness of Slavery as the Threat of Violence    The Bald Man Fallacy and the Wrongness of Slavery    When Slavery is ‘Not that Bad’: The Problem with Conditions vs. Formal Categories    Do Some People Deserve to be Enslaved?    Or, Is Freedom a Human Right? The Past as Moral Authority: Can We Part with the Past?    The Natural Law Tradition and Slavery    Critics of Slavery and the Call for Abolition    The Consequences of Moral Progress    Muslim Efforts to Salvage 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    Consent and Concubines Disbelief is Unproductive   Appendix 1 – A Slave Saint of Basra Appendix 2 – Enlightenment Thinkers on Slavery Appendix 3 – Did the 1926 Muslim World Congress Condemn Slavery? Appendix 4 – Was Māriya the Wife or Concubine of the Prophet? Appendix 5 – Was Freedom a Human Right in the Shariah? Appendix 6 – Enslavement of Apostate Muslims or Muslims Declared to be Unbelievers   Select Bibliography Notes Index

Reviews

‘Slavery & Islam hints at some of the great questions that are still outstanding in this field.’ * Literary Review * ‘For any system of belief that vests ultimate authority in the past, slavery is a big moral problem… For several reasons, this dilemma is an acute one for Muslims, as emerges in [this] scholarly but digestible new book.’ * The Economist * ‘A must-read for students and scholars of slavery in historical and contemporary Islam, as well as for anyone interested in slavery and its relationship to religion… Slavery & Islam is a thoughtful, well-researched, and well-written elucidation of a very difficult problem.’ * Journal of Islamic Ethics * ‘This insightful, courageous and comprehensively argued book is bound to constitute a new beginning. It is certain to be as widely debated as it is widely read. And we will all be all the better for it.’ -- Sherman A. Jackson, King Faisal Chair of Islamic Thought and Culture, University of Southern California ‘A prodigiously researched, provocatively argued, learned and multi-faceted treatment of a difficult and complex problem. One might not agree with all of Brown’s conclusions, but the book will be a must-read for students and scholars of historical and contemporary Islam, as well as for anyone interested in slavery and its relationship to religion.’ -- Bernard K. Freamon, Professor of Law Emeritus, Seton Hall University School of Law

'Slavery & Islam hints at some of the great questions that are still outstanding in this field.' * Literary Review * 'For any system of belief that vests ultimate authority in the past, slavery is a big moral problem... For several reasons, this dilemma is an acute one for Muslims, as emerges in [this] scholarly but digestible new book.' * The Economist * 'A must-read for students and scholars of slavery in historical and contemporary Islam, as well as for anyone interested in slavery and its relationship to religion... Slavery & Islam is a thoughtful, well-researched, and well-written elucidation of a very difficult problem.' * Journal of Islamic Ethics * 'This insightful, courageous and comprehensively argued book is bound to constitute a new beginning. It is certain to be as widely debated as it is widely read. And we will all be all the better for it.' -- Sherman A. Jackson, King Faisal Chair of Islamic Thought and Culture, University of Southern California 'A prodigiously researched, provocatively argued, learned and multi-faceted treatment of a difficult and complex problem. One might not agree with all of Brown's conclusions, but the book will be a must-read for students and scholars of historical and contemporary Islam, as well as for anyone interested in slavery and its relationship to religion.' -- Bernard K. Freamon, Professor of Law Emeritus, Seton Hall University School of Law

Author Information

Jonathan A.C. Brown is Assistant Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Washington, Seattle.

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