I have a really big problem with Brown's thesis and so does the Qur'an, particularly Surah #90: Ayah #12: "wama adraka ma al-'aqaba" (And what will explain to you what the ascent is?). Ayah #13: "fakku raqaba" (The freeing of a slave)... ...in addition to the well attested reports of the Prophet reiterating this position. The Qur'an as a matter of fact is the first sacred text which rejects slavery from a moral/ethical POV. Furthermore, the idea that so many slaves would follow the Prophet jeopardising their comfort and lives in the process only to remain slaves in the belief Islam would not grant them any change to their status is not logical or believable. What Muslims and their scholars both theorised and practiced is merely a reflection of their human limitations rather than the Islamic imperative. Which is why Brown's axioms are flawed.
Status is based on piety firstly. Secondly so called slaves in islam were not slaves as we see it. They were indentured servants, refugees who had a contract with those they fled to
I have a really big problem with Brown's thesis and so does the Qur'an, particularly Surah #90:
Ayah #12: "wama adraka ma al-'aqaba"
(And what will explain to you what the ascent is?).
Ayah #13: "fakku raqaba"
(The freeing of a slave)...
...in addition to the well attested reports of the Prophet reiterating this position.
The Qur'an as a matter of fact is the first sacred text which rejects slavery from a moral/ethical POV.
Furthermore, the idea that so many slaves would follow the Prophet jeopardising their comfort and lives in the process only to remain slaves in the belief Islam would not grant them any change to their status is not logical or believable.
What Muslims and their scholars both theorised and practiced is merely a reflection of their human limitations rather than the Islamic imperative. Which is why Brown's axioms are flawed.
Status is based on piety firstly. Secondly so called slaves in islam were not slaves as we see it. They were indentured servants, refugees who had a contract with those they fled to