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A thorough exploration of slavery from the perspective of Islam’s authoritative texts as well as moral and philosophical debates on the subjectWhat 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.
Sommario
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 Past5 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 UnbelieversSelect Bibliography
Notes
Index
Info autore
Jonathan A.C. Brown is Professor and Alwaleed bin Talal Chair of Islamic Civilization in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He is the author of
Slavery & Islam,
Misquoting Muhammad and
Hadith: Muhammad’s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World, all of which are published by Oneworld. He lives in Virginia.
Riassunto
A thorough exploration of slavery from the perspective of Islam's authoritative texts as well as moral and philosophical debates on the subject
