Aslam

Praise be to Allah.

Allaah is Most Wise in the laws that He decrees for His

slaves, but this wisdom is only apparent to those who seek it and believe

that Allaah is All Wise, and looks at the interests that are served by the

laws of Allaah which no man can see unless he ponders the matter, especially

when there are those who attack those laws because they go against what they

think are right and wise.

With regard to your question about it being permissible for a

master to be intimate with his slave woman, the answer is that that is

because Allaah has permitted it. Allaah says (interpretation of the

meaning):

“And those who guard their chastity (i.e. private parts,

from illegal sexual acts)

6. Except from their wives or (the slaves) that their

right hands possess, for then, they are free from blame”

[al-Mu’minoon 23:6; al-Ma’aarij 70:30]

That is subject to the

condition that he has acquired her in a proper manner, and that this slave

woman has not been given by her master in marriage to another man to whom

she is still married. The reason why this is permitted is that this slave

woman belongs to him, either because he has paid money to buy her or he has

fought for the sake of Allaah (and acquired her among the war booty).

Shaykh al-Shanqeeti (may

Allaah have mercy on him) said: The reason for which people may be taken as

slaves is if they are kaafirs who are waging war against Allaah and His

Messenger. If Allaah grants victory to the mujaahid Muslims, who are

offering their souls, their wealth and all their resources and everything

that Allaah has given them so that the word of Allaah might prevail over the

kuffaar, then these kuffaar may become slaves, unless the imam chooses to

let them go or to ransom them if that serves the interests of the Muslims.

Adwa’ al-Bayaan, 3/387

Shaykh al-Shanqeeti (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

If it is said: If the slave is a Muslim, how can he be kept

as a slave if the reason for which people may be taken as slaves is if they

are kaafirs who are waging war against Allaah and His Messenger? The answer

is that the basic principle which is well known to the scholars and all wise

people is that a right that is already established by shar’i means cannot be

superceded by rights that are established later on.

When the Muslims take prisoners of war, they are given the

right to enslave them by the law of the Creator of all, and He is the

All-Wise, All-Aware. If this right is established, then the slave becomes a

Muslim after that, his right to be freed from slavery because of his Islam

is superceded by the right of the mujaahid whose right to enslave him took

effect before he was a Muslim. It is not just or fair to waive the former

right because of a latter right, as is well known to all wise people.

Yes, it is good for the owner to set him free if he becomes

Muslim, and Islam enjoins that and encourages it, and opens the door to

doing so in many ways – he is referring to the fact that Allaah has decreed

that when expiation takes the form of freeing a slave, the slave in question

should be a Muslim –

Glory be to the All Wise, All Aware: “And the Word of your

Lord has been fulfilled in truth and in justice. None can change His Words.

And He is the All‑Hearer, the All‑Knower” [al-An’aam 6:115].

“In truth” means in what

He has told us; “in justice” means in His rulings.

Undoubtedly that justice includes owning slaves and other

rulings that are mentioned in the Qur’aan.

Adwa’ al-Bayaan, 3/389.

With regard to Muslims

owning slaves, he should be very careful to establish that those who are

bought or sold now are indeed slaves, because Islam has limited the sources

of slaves which were many before the coming of Muhammad (peace and

blessings of Allaah be upon him), and has allowed only one source, which is

kaafir prisoners of war, when the kuffaar are fighting the Muslims. There is

no other way in which they may be enslaved except those who are captured as

a result of fighting between kaffirs and Muslims, or their children.   See

also questions no.

26067 and 12562

for more information.

And Allaah knows best.