What does the Quran say about slavery?

Does the Qur’an abolish slavery?

Not in a single declaratory verse, and it is better to say so than to be caught overstating it. The institution existed across the world at the time, and the Qur’an legislates within a society in which it was present. What the text does is push consistently in one direction. Freeing slaves is presented as righteousness Qur’an 2:177, as the steep and difficult path Qur’an 90:12-13, as the fixed remedy for several wrongs, and as a purpose that zakat funds must serve. It creates an obligation to grant emancipation contracts on request. Every mechanism in the Qur’an that concerns slavery moves people out of it, and none moves people into it.

How is freeing a slave treated in the Qur’an?

As among the highest acts available. Qur’an 90:11-13 asks what the difficult pass is, and answers: the freeing of a slave — placing it first in a list that continues with feeding the orphan and the destitute. Qur’an 2:177 defines righteousness as belief together with giving wealth, despite loving it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveller, those who ask — and for freeing slaves. The category is written into the definition itself.

Where does the Qur’an require freeing a slave?

As the prescribed expiation in several cases, which is the more structural point. Qur’an 4:92 makes freeing a believing slave the expiation for killing a believer by mistake. Qur’an 58:3 makes it the expiation for the pre-Islamic formula of repudiating a wife. Qur’an 5:89 makes it one of the options for breaking an oath. The effect is that ordinary failings — an accident, a broken oath, a rash declaration — each convert into a person’s freedom. And Qur’an 9:60 names freeing captives as one of the eight categories zakat must be spent on, making manumission a permanent charge on communal wealth rather than a matter of individual goodwill.

Can an enslaved person seek their own freedom?

Yes, and this is the provision most readers do not know about. Qur’an 24:33 instructs that where those whom your right hands possess seek a contract for emancipation, it should be made with them if good is known in them — and that they be given from the wealth of God which He has given you. Two things are notable. The initiative lies with the enslaved person, and the owner is instructed to contribute financially toward the payment. The same verse forbids compelling slave women into prostitution.

How does the Qur’an say the enslaved must be treated?

Qur’an 4:36 places those whom your right hands possess in the same instruction of good treatment as parents, relatives, orphans, the needy, neighbours and the traveller — within a verse that begins with worshipping God alone. Qur’an 24:32 instructs marrying the righteous among male and female slaves, treating them as marriageable rather than as property alone. Qur’an 16:71 raises the point that those given more provision do not hand it over to those their right hands possess so as to make them equal in it — posing the inequality as something to be noticed rather than assumed.

Common questions

Does the Qur’an ban slavery?

It does not contain a blanket abolition. It makes freeing slaves an act of high merit Qur’an 90:12-13, a prescribed expiation for several offences Qur’an 4:92 Qur’an 58:3 Qur’an 5:89, one of the eight uses of zakat Qur’an 9:60, and a right the enslaved may initiate by contract Qur’an 24:33.

What is the emancipation contract in the Qur’an?

Qur’an 24:33 instructs that when an enslaved person seeks a contract for their freedom, it should be granted if good is known in them, and that they be helped financially toward it from the wealth God has given.

Is freeing a slave rewarded in the Qur’an?

It is named as the difficult pass — the steep uphill path — in Qur’an 90:12-13, and is written into the definition of righteousness in Qur’an 2:177.

The Surahs this page draws on

Every verse quoted above comes from one of these chapters. Each is set out in full — why it was revealed, and what it teaches.

• 2. Al-Baqarah — The Cow
• 4. An-Nisa — The Women
• 5. Al-Maidah — The Table Spread
• 9. At-Tawbah — The Repentance
• 16. An-Nahl — The Bee
• 24. An-Nur — The Light
• 58. Al-Mujadilah — The Pleading Woman
• 90. Al-Balad — The City