12-08-2007, 02:59 PM
umm Zachariah, according to your first link:
<b>"...opening the door for female slaves or captives to be married by destitute Muslims...</b>
Perhaps. But a muslim slave owner can have sex with his slaves whether or not he is married to them. In fact, according to the koran, the slave owner can have sex with his female slaves even if the slave is married to someone else. I find this belief offensive in the extreme.
According to your second link:
<b>Also, the Prophet's mission was not to eradicate slavery, but to establish rights and bring people to the point of being able to <i>eradicate it from their own hearts first </i>before they eradicated it from society.</b>
Slavery was practiced in Saudi Arabia until 1962, and the only reason it was eliminated is that President Kennedy put intense pressure on the Saudi government to stop this vile practice. So, then, it appears that even 1300 years was an insufficiant period of time for Arab muslims to eradicate slavery "from their own hearts".
Since the end of slavery was forced upon Arabs, and not given up by choice, I have no doubt that Arabs would legalize slavery again in a second if there was a wayfor them to do so. Besides, as all of us know, the treatment of many of the foreign workers in Saudi Arabia and other gulf countries is little better than slavery.
In addition to the near slavery which is still practiced in Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar, actual slavery is still practiced by muslims in Mauritania (which is 100% muslim) and Sudan (which is 70% muslim).
