Question:
Dear Mr. Mubasshir.
I want to read History of Islam(Tareekh-e-Islam) by Akbar Shah Najeeb Aabadi. What is your opinion about this book and also I appreciate if you can refer any other scholar book on the same topic.?
Second thing. some time Wasawis raised in my Mind/Heart on Slavery, may be it is not clear to me as I haven’t read any book on above topic,
Why Islam did not abandon the slavery? On the other hand, Islam allows mubashirat with slave women.
I don’t know if the whole society (ordinary people) of the conquered land used to become the slave of the Islamic military or only some people.? Or was there any Hikmat behind this slavery? Please suggest some book on the above.
Thanks
Ahmed Mohammed, Kuwait
Assalam o alaikum wa Rahmatullah e wa Barakatuhu
The book of Maulana Najeebabadi is considered the benchmark book in this discipline. It’s a nice book. You can also consider the following books on this subject:
1. The Spirit of Islam (English / Urdu) by Syed Ameer Ali
2. Tareekh Zawal Ummat Islamia by Akbar Shah Khan Najeebabadi
3. Youm ul Islam by Amin Misri (It is in Arabic)
Regarding slavery, the questions appearing in your mind are not wasawis (Satanic Ideas). They are genuine questions which will arise in the mind of every person who use his intellect. A couple of years ago, I had the same questions. Various authors e.g. Maulvi Charagh Ali, Syed Abul Aa’la Mawdudi, Syed Qutub and Javed Ahmed Ghamidi have tried to answer these questions. I read all of that but certain questions were still unresolved. It forced me to conduct my own research on the subject. I conducted a detailed study and examined the books of Hadith, Tafsir, Fiqh, Rijaal (Biographical Studies) and History for such questions and summarized my conclusions in the form of a book. It is available at the following link:
About your questions, the brief answer is:
1. Islam took serious steps to abolish the slavery. The Torah and the Quran describe laws to minimize the impact of the slavery and maximize manumission of slaves. See Chapter 3 & 7. Islam also took serious steps to raise the social status of slaves. See Chap 8.
2. Master-slave sex relations were a normal practice in the world. Islam declared slave-women as wives of their masters and developed a procedure for their manumission. See Chapter 9
3. All the population was never made a slave. Only war captives were made slave on temporary basis. After their integration to the Muslim society, they were manumitted. See Chap 10, 11 & 12. During the time of Caliph U’mar, slavery was abolished in Arabia.
After reading this book, if any other question arises in your mind, please feel free to write me so that I can include that as well in this book. Remember in your prayers.
Wassalaam
Muhammad Mubashir Nazir
December 2009
Don’t hesitate to share your questions and comments. They will be highly appreciated. I’ll reply ASAP if I know the answer. Send at mubashirnazir100@gmail.com.