War possesses a fundamental relationship with the issue of slavery and Badr was the first formal war to have taken place between the disbelievers and Muslims. For this reason, in mentioning the battle of Badr, the question naturally arises as to what teaching the Holy Prophet(sa) gave with respect to the issue of slavery and what practice he employed in this regard. Hence, prior to moving forward it would not be inappropriate to write a brief note on the issue of slavery. However, this issue is extremely vast and very sensitive. Furthermore, in order to comment upon this issue one is compelled to take up many other discussions, for which there is not sufficient room here. Moreover, in my capacity as a historian, I cannot overly involve myself in such academic discussions. Therefore, on this occasion, I shall only cast a brief glance upon this issue from a fundamental perspective; and even in this regard, I shall confine myself only to such issues as relate directly to the teachings of the Holy Prophet(sa) and his practice.
First and foremost it should be understood that as elaborated upon in Encyclopedia Brittannica, slavery actually began in the world as a result of war. Initially, the manner in which people were forced into slavery was through the aftermath of war between two tribes, two nations, or two countries. As a matter of fact, quite often, many or all of the males belonging to the defeated nation would be executed; and the women and children (except for those who were considered worthy of death), would be taken captive and made slaves. Thereafter, these slaves would be subjected to various types of work and labour. After this, on the one hand, civilization and commerce progressed in the world, and the demand for labourers and servants also began to grow. On the other hand, the practical experience of making women and children into slaves demonstrated that an excellent and easy method by which service and labour could be generated, was to enslave the people of a defeated nation. For this reason, gradually the practice, which then became prevalent, was that except for those people who for some reason, were considered worthy of death, even the men of a defeated nation were made slaves as opposed to being killed. They would then be subjected to forced labour in various domestic, national and individual tasks. As such, history reveals that this practice gradually became so widespread that the number of slaves in certain countries even surpassed the actual population of the residents themselves; and the practice of slavery became an essential part of civilization and society. These slaves were considered to be the full property of their master, and he possessed the right to keep them as he so willed, use them for whatever task he wished, give them any punishment he desired and sell them to another individual whenever and however he so pleased.
Ultimately, this system took on such a vast nature that even the offspring of these slaves were considered to be the property of their master, and in this manner a continuous and never ending practice of slavery became prevalent. Furthermore, people eventually realized that this was a very profitable practice, whereby service could be derived from servants and labourers for absolutely nothing. It was not necessary to give them a wage, etc., and the slave was compelled to perform any service in all circumstances. As a matter of fact, aside from service, other benefits could be derived from them as well. Hence, aside from the practice of taking in prisoners of war, people invented many other cruel means by which to acquire slaves. For example, without any reason, people would attack a weaker tribe or raid a caravan and capture all of its men and women and make them slaves. Then, the blemish of slavery would continue to forever taint the progeny of these unfortunate people. Therefore, gradually, both just and unjust means of making slaves became customary and established throughout the world. At the time of the advent of Islām, this practice was more or less present in all countries. In the kingdoms of Byzantium, Greece and Iran, etc., hundreds of thousands of slaves were living a life of grief and misery. There was no one to tend to them and in their collective capacity, their state was no better than that of animals. In this era, even in the country of Arabia, there were thousands of slaves. Moreover, the possession of a certain number of slaves was considered to be a necessary part of the property of the affluent. The people of Arabia particularly considered slaves to be immensely contemptible and disgraceful, and would treat them as cruelly as they desired. As such, the severe cruelties inflicted upon such slaves who became Muslim by the chieftains of the Quraish, have been mentioned in Volume I of this book.
Upon receiving revelation from God, when the Holy Prophet(sa) made his claim to Prophethood, one commandment from among his early teachings was that slaves should be treated with compassion and kindness. Moreover, it was in this early era when the Holy Prophet(sa) began to encourage the freeing of slaves as well. As a matter of fact, in this regard a Qur’ānic injunction was revealed, that the freeing of slaves was a very good deed.1 Along with the merit and attraction of the Islāmic teaching itself, this particular injunction had a very deep effect on the slaves of Arabia. They began to perceive the voice of the Holy Prophet(sa) as being the voice of a Saviour. It is for this reason that despite the very ruthless cruelties inflicted upon the Muslim converts by the chieftains of Makkah, Islām began to rapidly spread among slaves. Therefore, as mentioned in Volume I of this book, the ratio of slaves among the early Muslims was extraordinarily high. Moreover, history establishes that even in the early era, these people were not considered lower than others in any way. Subsequently, as Islāmic injunctions continued to be revealed, the position of slaves became more and more stronger and their conditions continued to improve. Ultimately, except for a difference in administration, where one individual was an officer and the other was his subordinate, no discrimination remained. On the other hand, the liberation movement of slaves continued to gain strength day by day, and the Muslims participated in this scheme with a spirit of healthy competition according to the emphatic teaching of the Holy Prophet(sa) and his practical example. Hence, the Holy Qur’ān, books of Aḥādīth, and history are replete with these accounts.
However, in this regard, the question is whether the work of the Holy Prophet(sa) remained limited merely to that which has been mentioned above, and did the Holy Prophet(sa) not undertake any practical steps to abrogate the unjust and cruel practice of slavery? Even if that was all, the Holy Prophet(sa) would still prove to be a Grand Benefactor to the world, in that he offered significant services in improving the state of slaves, introduced a movement to free them and gave this movement a practical form. Yet, despite all this, the practical efforts of the Holy Prophet(sa) in this regard, which may be described as the true motivating spirit of this movement, remain hidden. As far as our research is concerned, and this research is not the result of bias, rather, it is based on historical account, the Holy Prophet(sa) not only improved the state of slaves, but also did away with the unjust and cruel practices of slavery for the future as well. In other words, the teaching brought by the Holy Prophet(sa) relevant to the issue of slavery was divided into two categories, as far as efforts of reform were concerned: firstly, an improvement in the state of existing slaves and steps in securing their freedom; secondly, the establishment of fundamental injunctions for the future. At this point, we shall present a brief overview on both these aspects in light of the teaching presented by the Holy Prophet(sa) and his practical example.
1 Al-Balad (90:14)