Islamic ethics: slavery, captives, and rules of war
How the Qurʼān and classical fiqh addressed slavery, captives, and the conduct of war — and how Muslim scholars from the early period to today have read, applied, or restricted those rulings.
Questions in this hub
- Did Islam permit slavery?
The Qurʼān regulates and assumes slavery; classical fiqh permitted it; manumission was encouraged but slavery was not abolished until the modern period.
- What about concubinage in Islam?
The Qurʼān permits sexual relations with female captives ("those whom your right hands possess") in addition to wives. What did classical fiqh make of it?
- Did Islam abolish slavery?
The Qurʼān encourages manumission and regulates the lives of enslaved people; classical fiqh permitted slavery within rules of just war and purchase. Modern Muslim-majority states abolished slavery in law between the 19th and 20th centuries.