This Is Islam Uncovered

Islamic Empires and Their Slave Systems

A Historical Timeline of Sharia-Based Slavery

From the Rashidun Caliphate to the Ottomans, a 1,300-Year Record of Institutionalized Slavery in Islamic Rule

“Slavery in Islam wasn't a deviation — it was doctrinal, systemic, and practiced for over a millennium by the leading Islamic powers.”
And most crucially: it was never abolished from within the Sharia system.

This timeline highlights how Islamic empires across centuries institutionalized slavery — including concubinage, eunuch slavery, and military slavery (mamluks) — not in violation of Islamic law, but in full compliance with it.

📍 7th Century: Muhammad and the Rashidun Caliphate (622–661 CE)

Muhammad personally owns, sells, and has sex with female slaves (Maria, Rayhana, Safiyya).
Slaves taken from Banu Qurayza, Khaybar, and Byzantine prisoners.
Qur’an legalizes sex with female captives: 4:24, 23:6, 33:50.
Abu Bakr and Umar continue using slaves as household workers and military resources.
Slave trade begins to develop as a state-regulated enterprise under Islamic law.

📍 8th–13th Century: Umayyads and Abbasids (661–1258 CE)

Umayyads (661–750 CE)

Expansionist wars bring in thousands of Persian, Byzantine, and Berber slaves.
Slaves used for domestic work and sex (concubines), particularly in Damascus.

Abbasids (750–1258 CE)

Caliphs keep massive harems — Harun al-Rashid reportedly had over 2,000 concubines.
Eunuchs imported from Africa and Central Asia to guard harems.
Zanj slaves (East African) used in massive agricultural labor projects; the Zanj Rebellion (869–883 CE) is the result of slave overpopulation and abuse in Iraq.
Jurists like al-Mawardi and Ibn Qudamah codify legal rulings on the rights of slave owners to have sex with concubines.

📍 9th–15th Century: Mamluk Slave Dynasties (1250–1517 CE)

“Mamluk” means “owned” — slave soldiers bought from the Caucasus, converted to Islam, and trained.
Mamluks rise to become a full ruling class in Egypt and Syria, forming a military aristocracy of former slaves.
Female slaves used as concubines and breeders for more mamluks.
Mamluk rule is Sharia-based, with scholars like Ibn Taymiyyah affirming their legitimacy.

📍 13th–16th Century: Islamic Spain and North Africa (Al-Andalus)

Slavery widespread among the Almoravids, Almohads, and later Nasrid rulers.
Female slaves brought from Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe.
Andalusian legal scholars normalize concubinage and harem culture.
Notably, slavery was not abolished by Muslims, but by Christian reconquest.

📍 16th–20th Century: Ottoman Empire (1299–1924 CE)

One of the longest-running and most organized Islamic slave empires.
Maintained a state-run slave market in Istanbul (Avret Pazarı).
Thousands of Christian boys taken via devshirme and converted into slave soldiers (Janissaries).
Tens of thousands of Christian and African women taken as sex slaves in the imperial harem.
Concubinage was central to succession — many sultans were born of slave mothers (umm walad).
Slave trade not abolished until 1908, and only under Western pressure.

📍 19th–20th Century: Arab and East African Slave Trade

Arab Muslims capture, castrate, and export millions of Africans.
The Zanzibar slave trade (under Omani Arabs) traffics African women as concubines to Arabia, Iran, and India.
Tippu Tip, a famous Muslim slave trader, dominates Central Africa with Islamic sanction.
Slavery in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, UAE continues into the 20th century, abolished only in:
- Saudi Arabia: 1962
- UAE: 1963
- Mauritania: 1981 (criminalized only in 2007)

📍 Summary Table

Empire / Period	Slavery System	Sex Slavery Present?	Abolition?
Prophet Muhammad (622–632)	War captives, concubines, household slaves	✅ Yes	❌ Never abolished
Rashidun (632–661)	Male/female captives, military support	✅ Yes	❌
Umayyads (661–750)	Domestic, sexual, agricultural slaves	✅ Yes	❌
Abbasids (750–1258)	Harems, eunuchs, Zanj labor	✅ Massive scale	❌
Mamluks (1250–1517)	Slave soldiers, female breeders	✅ Yes	❌
Ottomans (1299–1924)	Janissaries, harems, slave markets	✅ State-institutionalized	❌ Until 1908 (external)
North Africa & Andalus	Domestic and sex slavery	✅ Yes	❌
East Africa & Arabia	Arab-African trade, concubinage	✅ Yes	❌ Until late 20th c.

🧠 Final Verdict: Slavery in Islam Was Not a Side Effect — It Was Core Policy

Qur’an and hadith established the rules for slavery.
Muhammad practiced and legitimized sex slavery personally.
Every major Islamic empire expanded and refined slave institutions.
No Islamic empire ever abolished slavery from within — it ended under colonial or modern Western pressure.

A religion claiming to be timeless and just must be judged by what it codified and practiced, not by modern apologetic rebranding.

📚 Historical Sources:

Bernard Lewis – Race and Slavery in the Middle East
Ehud Toledano – The Ottoman Slave Trade
Murray Gordon – Slavery in the Arab World
Ronald Segal – Islam's Black Slaves
Patricia Crone – Pre-Industrial Societies
Kecia Ali – Sexual Ethics and Islam
Jonathan A.C. Brown – Slavery and Islam (despite pro-Islamic framing, it documents scale)