Daniel J. Pipes

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Slavery allowed in Koran

Reader comment on item: A Modern-day Mock Devshirme

Submitted by Margaret (United States), Jun 18, 2006 at 10:32

The Koran specifically allows slavery of both non-Muslims and fellow Muslims. It states that if a man inseminates one of his slaves, regardless of her religion -- a common practice in Mohammed's time and even today in Saudi Arabia-- he has to marry the girl to give the child a name. Enslavement of women in the Islamic world is a given; they are considered the property of their masters, fathers, husbands, brothers, or the closest male relative.

My daughter has been such a slave, having been kidnapped to Saudi Arabia 9 years ago by her father. She is not allowed to have a passport, travel, marry, attend school, or exercise her religious rights as a Christian and her Constitutional rights as an American citizen. She is a slave both under the Wahhabi Sharia and under Saudi civil law. She is not allowed to express or even have thoughts contrary to Sharia, at the risk of beheading. I argue that under Sharia, all women are slaves.


Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Daniel Pipes replies:

Slavery needs to be distinguished from the terrible treatment of women in Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries - these are different phenomena.

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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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