Sex with slaves & captive women in Islam
It is against Islam to rape Muslim women, which carries a death penalty, on the other hand; Islam allows Muslims to make slaves out of anyone who is captured during war which makes them their “right hand possession.” Islam allows a man to have intercourse with his right hand possession (slave woman), whether the captor/master has a wife or wives or he is not married. Muhammad actually encouraged the rape of women captured in battle as war booty. They were then sold in markets as slaves to other men to buys weapons and animals etc. Qur’an does not see any wrong-doing in Muslims having sex with captive women even if these women are married and their husbands are still alive. Women captives are sometimes forced to marry their Muslim masters, regardless of the marital status of the women. That is, the masters are allowed to have sex with the enslaved human property.
Sex with captured women and slave girls (right hand possessions) is halal in Qur’an 4:24, 4:3, 23:6, 33:50, and 70:30.
Q33:50 “O Prophet, indeed We have made lawful to you your wives to whom you have given their due compensation and those your right hand possesses from what Allah has returned to you [of captives] and the daughters of your paternal uncles and the daughters of your paternal aunts and the daughters of your maternal uncles and the daughters of your maternal aunts who emigrated with you and a believing woman if she gives herself to the Prophet [and] if the Prophet wishes to marry her, [this is] only for you, excluding the [other] believers. We certainly know what We have made obligatory upon them concerning their wives and those their right hands possess, [but this is for you] in order that there will be upon you no discomfort. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful.”
-Sex with married slaves is permissible.
Q4:24 “And also prohibited to you are all married women except those women your right hands possess (slave/captives). [This is] the decree of Allah upon you.” –
Q4:24 “Also (forbidden are) women already married, except those (captives and slaves) whom your right hands possess. Thus has Allah ordained for you.
Qur’an 4:24
وَالْمُحْصَنَاتُ مِنَ النِّسَاءِ إِلَّا مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ كِتَابَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَأُحِلَّ لَكُم مَّا وَرَاءَ ذَٰلِكُمْ أَن تَبْتَغُوا بِأَمْوَالِكُم مُّحْصِنِينَ غَيْرَ مُسَافِحِينَ فَمَا اسْتَمْتَعْتُم بِهِ مِنْهُنَّ فَآتُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ فَرِيضَةً وَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِيمَا تَرَاضَيْتُم بِهِ مِن بَعْدِ الْفَرِيضَةِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَلِيمًا حَكِيمًا
Q4:3 “If you fear that you cannot treat orphans with fairness, then you may marry other women who seem good to you: two, three, or four of them. But if you fear that you cannot maintain equality among them, marry one only or any slave-girls you may own. This will make it easier for you to avoid injustice.”
Q8:69 “But (now) enjoy what ye took in war, lawful and good”
Q23:5-6 “And those who guard their chastity (i.e. private parts, from illegal sexual acts) Except from their wives or (the captives and slaves) that their right hands possess, for then, they are free from blame..”
Q70:29-30 “And those who guard their private parts, except in the case of their wives or those whom their right hands possess (captive women) – for these surely are not to be blamed.”
Q70:29-30 “And those who guard their chastity (i.e. private parts from illegal sexual acts) except with their wives and the (women slaves and captives) whom their right hands possess, for (then) they are not to be blamed,”
Guarding private parts is denotative of abstaining from sexual activities. The Qur’an points out successful believers are those who are indulging in sexual activities only with their wives and sex-slaves.
Sunan Abu Dawud – Book 2, Hadith 2150
Abu Said al-Khudri said: “The apostle of Allah sent a military expedition to Awtas on the occasion of the battle of Hunain. They met their enemy and fought with them. They defeated them and took them captives. Some of the Companions of the apostle of Allah were reluctant to have intercourse with the female captives IN THE PRESENCE OF THEIR HUSBANDS who were unbelievers. So Allah, the Exalted, sent down the Quranic verse, “And all married women (are forbidden) unto you save those (captives) whom your right hands possess”. That is to say, they are lawful for them when they complete their waiting period.” [The Quran verse is 4:24]
Sahih Bukhari – Volume 5, Book 59, Hadith 459
Narrated Ibn Muhairiz: I entered the Mosque and saw Abu Said Al-Khudri and sat beside him and asked him about Al-Azl (i.e. coitus interruptus). Abu Said said, “We went out with Allah’s Apostle for the Ghazwa of Banu Al-Mustaliq and we received captives from among the Arab captives and we desired women and celibacy became hard on us and we loved to do coitus interruptus. So when we intended to do coitus interruptus, we said, ‘How can we do coitus interruptus before asking Allah’s Apostle who is present among us?” We asked (him) about it and he said, ‘It is better for you not to do so, for if any soul (till the Day of Resurrection) is predestined to exist, it will exist.”
(See also Sahih Bukhari – Volume 3, Book 46, Hadith 718)
Sahih Muslim – Book 8, Hadith 3432
Abu Sa’id al-Khudri reported that at the Battle of Hunain Allah’s Messenger sent an army to Autas and encountered the enemy and fought with them. Having overcome them and taken them captives, the Companions of Allah’s Messenger seemed to refrain from having intercourse with captive women because of their husbands being polytheists. Then Allah, Most High, sent down regarding that:” And women already married, except those whom your right hands possess (Quran 4:24)” (i.e. they were lawful for them when their ‘Idda period came to an end).
Sahih Muslim – Book 8, Hadith 3433
Abu Sa’id al-Khudri (Allah be pleased with him) reported that Allah’s Apostle sent a small army. The rest of the hadith is the same except this that he said: Except what your right hands possessout of them are lawful for you; and he did not mention” when their ‘idda period comes to an end”. This hadith has been reported on the authority of AbuSa’id (al-Khudri) (Allah be pleased with him) through another chain of transmitters and the words are: They took captives (women) on the day of Autas who had their husbands. They were afraid (to have sexual intercourse with them) when this verse was revealed:” And women already married except those whom you right hands posses” (iv. 24)
(See also Sahih Muslim – Volume 2, Hadith 3371)
Sahih Muslim. Chapter 29: Title: It is permissible to have sexual intercourse with a captive woman after she is purified of menses or delivery. In case SHE HAS A HUSBAND, her marriage is abrogated after she becomes captive.
Jami’ at-Tirmidhi – Book 6, Hadith 1132
Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudri narrated: “We got some captives on the day of Awtas, and they had husbands among their people. They mentioned that to the Messenger of Allah, so the following was revealed: And women who are already married, except those whom your right hands possess.
Jami’ at-Tirmidhi – Book 44, Hadith 3016
Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudri said: “On the Day of Awtas, we captured some women who had husbands among the idolaters. So some of the men disliked that, so Allah, Most High, revealed: ‘And women already married, except those whom your right hands possess . . . . [4:24]’”
Jami’ at-Tirmidhi – Book 46, Hadith 3712
Imran bin Husain narrated that the Messenger of Allah dispatched an army and he put Ali bin Abi Talib in charge of it. He left on the expedition and he entered upon a female slave. So four of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah scolded him, and they made a pact saying: “[If] we meet the Messenger of Allah we will inform him of what Ali did.” When the Muslims returned from the journey, they would begin with the Messenger of Allah and give him Salam, then they would go to their homes. So when the expedition arrived, they gave Salam to the Prophet, and one of the four stood saying: “O Messenger of Allah! Do you see that Ali bin Abi Talib did such and such.” The Messenger of Allah turned away from him. Then the second one stood and said as he said, and he turned away from him. Then the third stood before him, and said as he said, and he turned away from him. Then the fourth stood and said as they had said. The Messenger of Allah faced him, and the anger was visible on his face, he said: “What do you want from Ali?! What do you want from Ali?! What do you want from Ali?! Indeed Ali is from me, and I am from him, and he is the ally of every believer after me.”
Muwatta Malik – Book 29, Hadith 29.32.100
Yahya related to me from Malik from Humayd ibn Qays al-Makki that a man called Dhafif said that Ibn Abbas was asked about coitus interruptus. He called a slave-girl of his and said, “Tell them.” She was embarrassed. He said, “It is alright, and I do it myself.” Malik said, “A man does not practise coitus interruptus with a free woman unless she gives her permission. There is no harm in practising coitus interruptus with a slave-girl without her permission. Someone who has someone else’s slave-girl as a wife, does not practise coitus interruptus with her unless her people give him permission.”
Sahih Bukhari – Volume 3, Book 34, Hadith 432
Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri: that while he was sitting with Allah’s Apostle he said, “O Allah’s Apostle! We get female captives as our share of booty, and we are interested in their prices, what is your opinion about coitus interruptus?” The Prophet said, “Do you really do that? It is better for you not to do it. No soul that which Allah has destined to exist, but will surely come into existence.
Sahih Bukhari – Volunme 7, Book 62, Hadith 137
Narrated Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri: We got female captives in the war booty and we used to do coitus interruptus with them. So we asked Allah’s Messenger about it and he said, “Do you really do that?” repeating the question thrice, “There is no soul that is destined to exist but will come into existence, till the Day of Resurrection.”
Sahih Bukhari – Volume 5, Book 59, Hadith 637
Narrated by Buraida: The Prophet sent Ali to Khalid to bring the Khumus (of the booty) and I hated Ali, and Ali had taken a bath (after a sexual act with a slave-girl from the Khumus). I said to Khalid, ‘Don’t you see this (i.e. Ali)?’ When we reached the Prophet I mentioned that to him. He said, ‘O Buraida! Do you hate Ali?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Do you hate him, for he deserves more than that from the Khumus.
Sunan Abu Dawud – Book 11, Hadith 2152
Abu Sa’id Al Khudri traced to Prophet the following statement regarding the captives taken at Atwas. There must be no intercourse with pregnant woman till she gives birth to her child or with the one who is not pregnant till she has had one menstrual period.
Sahih Bukhari – Volume 7, Book 62, Hadith 89
Narrated Anas: ….The Muslims asked whether Safiyya would be considered as his wife or as a slave girl of what his right hands possessed. Then they said, “If the Prophet screens her from the people, then she is the Prophet’s wife but if he does not screen her, then she is a slave girl.” So when the Prophet proceeded, he made a place for her (on the camel) behind him and screened her from people.
Sunan Abu Dawud – Book 31, Hadith 4006
Narrated Mu’awiyah ibn Haydah: I said: Apostle of Allah, from whom should we conceal our private parts and to whom can we show? He replied: conceal your private parts except from your wife and from whom your right hands possess (slave girls).
Sahih Muslim – Book 8, Hadith 3383
Jabir reported that a man came to Allah’s Messenger and said: I have a slave-girl who is our servant and she carries water for us and I have intercourse with her, but I do not want her to conceive. He said: Practise ‘azl, if you so like, but what is decreed for her will come to her. The person stayed back (for some time) and then came and said: The girl has become pregnant, whereupon he said: I told you what was decreed for her would come to her.
Muwatta Malik – Book 36, Hadith 14
Malik related to me from Ibn Shihab that Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan gave a judgment that the rapist had to pay the raped woman her bride price. Yahya said that he heard Malik say, “What is done in our community about the man who rapes a woman, virgin or non-virgin, if she is free, is that he must pay the bride-price of the like of her. If she is a slave, he must pay what he has diminished of her worth. The hadd-punishment in such cases is applied to the rapist, and there is no punishment applied to the raped woman. If the rapist is a slave, that is against his master unless he wishes to surrender him.” (Also Book 29, Hadith 95)
Sahih Bukhari – Volume 1, Book 85, Hadith 81 (Book 89, Hadith 10)
And Safiyya bint ‘Ubaid said: “A governmental male-slave tried to seduce a slave-girl from the Khumus of the war booty till he deflowered her by force against her will; therefore ‘Umar flogged him according to the law, and exiled him, but he did not flog the female slave because the male-slave had committed illegal sexual intercourse by force, against her will.” Az-Zuhri said regarding a virgin slave-girl raped by a free man: The judge has to fine the adulterer as much money as is equal to the price of the female slave and the adulterer has to be flogged (according to the Islamic Law); but if the slave woman is a matron, then, according to the verdict of the Imam, the adulterer is not fined but he has to receive the legal punishment (according to the Islamic Law).
Forbidden=sexual intercourse
From 4:24, it can be rightly assumed, that the Qur’an does not see any wrong-doing in Muslims having sex with captive women even if these women are married and their husbands are still alive. This clearly indicates that the Qur’an allows rape, as captive women, even in the unlikely case of agreeing to sexual intercourse, would still be having that intercourse under duress.
Sahih Bukhari – Volume 1, Book 8, Hadith 367
Narrated ‘Abdul ‘Aziz: ….We conquered Khaibar, took the captives, and the booty was collected. Dihya came and said, ‘O Allah’s Prophet! Give me a slave girl from the captives.’ The Prophet said, ‘Go and take any slave girl.’ He took Safiya bint Huyai. A man came to the Prophet and said, ‘O Allah’s Apostles! You gave Safiya bint Huyai to Dihya and she is the chief mistress of the tribes of Quraiza and An-Nadir and she befits none but you.’ So the Prophet said, ‘Bring him along with her.’ So Dihya came with her and when the Prophet saw her, he said to Dihya, ‘Take any slave girl other than her from the captives.’ Anas added: The Prophet then manumitted her and married her.” Thabit asked Anas, “O Abu Hamza! What did the Prophet pay her (as Mahr)?” He said, “Her self was her Mahr for he manumitted her and then married her.” Anas added, “While on the way, Um Sulaim dressed her for marriage (ceremony) and at night she sent her as a bride to the Prophet. So the Prophet was a bridegroom and he said, ‘Whoever has anything (food) should bring it.’ He spread out a leather sheet (for the food) and some brought dates and others cooking butter. (I think he (Anas) mentioned As-SawTq). So they prepared a dish of Hais (a kind of meal). And that was Walima (the marriage banquet) of Allah’s Apostle.”
Sahih Bukhari – Volume 3, Book 46, Hadith 717
Narrated Ibn Aun: I wrote a letter to Nafi and Nafi wrote in reply to my letter that the Prophet had suddenly attacked Bani Mustaliq without warning while they were heedless and their cattle were being watered at the places of water. Their fighting men were killed and their women and children were taken as captives; the Prophet got Juwairiya on that day. Nafi said that Ibn ‘Umar had told him the above narration and that Ibn ‘Umar was in that army.
Sunan Abu Dawud – Book 29, Hadith 3920
Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu’minin: Juwayriyyah, daughter of al-Harith ibn al-Mustaliq, fell to the lot of Thabit ibn Qays ibn Shammas, or to her cousin. She entered into an agreement to purchase her freedom. She was a very beautiful woman, most attractive to the eye. Aisha said: She then came to the Apostle of Allah asking him for the purchase of her freedom. When she was standing at the door, I looked at her with disapproval. I realised that the Apostle of Allah would look at her in the same way that I had looked. She said: Apostle of Allah, I am Juwayriyyah, daughter of al-Harith, and something has happened to me, which is not hidden from you. I have fallen to the lot of Thabit ibn Qays ibn Shammas, and I have entered into an agreement to purchase of my freedom. I have come to you to seek assistance for the purchase of my freedom. The Apostle of Allah said: Are you inclined to that which is better? She asked: What is that, Apostle of Allah? He replied: I shall pay the price of your freedom on your behalf, and I shall marry you. She said: I shall do this. She (Aisha) said: The people then heard that the Apostle of Allah had married Juwayriyyah. They released the captives in their possession and set them free, and said: They are the relatives of the Apostle of Allah by marriage. We did not see any woman greater than Juwayriyyah who brought blessings to her people. One hundred families of Banu al-Mustaliq were set free on account of her.
Sunan Abu Dawud – Book 11, Hadith 2153
Narrated Ruwayfi’ ibn Thabit al-Ansari: Should I tell you what I heard the Apostle of Allah say on the day of Hunayn: It is not lawful for a man who believes in Allah and the last day to water what another has sown with his water (meaning intercourse with women who are pregnant); it is not lawful for a man who believes in Allah and the Last Day to have intercourse with a captive woman till she is free from a menstrual course; and it is not lawful for a man who believes in Allah and the Last Day to sell spoil till it is divided.
Sunan Abu Dawud – Book 11, Hadith 2152
Abu Sa’id Al Khudri traced to Prophet the following statement regarding the captives taken at Atwas. There must be no intercourse with pregnant woman till she gives birth to her child or with the one who is not pregnant till she has had one menstrual period.
Tafsir al-Tabari, 29/84
Al-Tabari said: Allaah says, “And those who guard their chastity” i.e., protect their private parts from doing everything that Allaah has forbidden, but they are not to blame if they do not guard their chastity from their wives or from the female slaves whom their rights hands possess.
Tafsir Ibn Kathir, 1/383
And Ibn Kathir also said:
The phrase “and those (slaves) whom your right hand possesses – whom Allah has given to you” [al-Ahzaab 33:50] means, it is permissible for you take concubines from among those whom you seized as war booty. He took possession of Safiyyah and Juwayriyah and he freed them and married them; he took possession of Rayhaanah bint Sham’oon al-Nadariyyah and Maariyah al-Qibtiyyah, the mother of his son Ibraaheem, and they were among his concubines, may Allaah be pleased with them both.
Tafsir al-Jalalayn
And, forbidden to you are, wedded women, those with spouses, that you should marry them before they have left their spouses, be they Muslim free women or not; save what your right hands own, of captured [slave] girls, whom you may have sexual intercourse with, even if they should have spouses among the enemy camp, but only after they have been absolved of the possibility of pregnancy [after the completion of one menstrual cycle]…
This practice of raping war captives was practiced by Islam’s very own prophet Muhammad, in his life. On two occasions, he married (for the sake of sexual gratification only) war captives and raped them. Those victims were namely Safiyah and Juwairiyah.
Ibn Ishaq/Hisham 878
The apostle gave Ali a girl called Rayta; and he gave Uthman a girl called Zaynab; and he gave Umar a girl whom Umar gave to his son Abdullah.
Ibn Ishaq/Hisham 693
“Then the apostle sent Sa-d b. Zayd al-Ansari, brother of Abdu’l-Ashal with some of the captive women of Banu Qurayza to Najd and he sold them for horses and weapons.”
Islam Q&A, Fatwa No. 10382, November 24, 2005
Islam allows a man to have intercourse with his slave woman, whether he has a wife or wives or he is not married…Whoever regards that as haraam is a sinner who is going against the consensus of the scholars.
http://islamqa.info/en/10382
Islam is a religion of war 