Jay - here is another one for you - if the muslim members have a problem with this, they can write to
islam-qa.com.
Fatwa: 10382
Principles of Fiqh » Jurisprudence and Islamic Rulings » Transactions » Slavery
**Ruling on having intercourse with a slave woman when one has a wife **
Could you please clarify for me something that has been troubling me for a while. This concerns the right of a man to have sexual relations with slave girls. Is this so?
If it is then is the man allowed to have relations with her as well his wife/wives.
Also, is it true that a man can have sexual relations with any number of slave girls and with their own wife/wives also?
I have read that Hazrat Ali had 17 slave girls and Hazrat Umar also had many.
Surely if a man were allowed this freedom then this could lead to neglecting the wife’s needs. Could you also tell clarify wether the wife has got any say in this matter.
Praise be to Allaah.
**Islam allows a man to have intercourse with his slave woman, whether he has a wife or wives or he is not married. **
A slave woman with whom a man has intercourse is known as a sariyyah (concubine) from the word sirr, which means marriage.
This is indicated by the Qur’aan and Sunnah, and this was done by the Prophets. Ibraaheem (peace be upon him) took Haajar as a concubine and she bore him Ismaa’eel (may peace be upon them all).
Our Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) also did that, as did the Sahaabah, the righteous and the scholars. The scholars are unanimously agreed on that and it is not permissible for anyone to regard it as haraam or to forbid it. Whoever regards that as haraam is a sinner who is going against the consensus of the scholars.
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“And if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with the orphan girls then marry (other) women of your choice, two or three, or four; but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one or (slaves) that your right hands possess. That is nearer to prevent you from doing injustice”
[al-Nisa’ 4:3]
What is meant by “or (slaves) that your right hands possess” is slave women whom you own.
And Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“O Prophet (Muhammad)! Verily, We have made lawful to you your wives, to whom you have paid their Mahr (bridal‑money given by the husband to his wife at the time of marriage), and those (slaves) whom your right hand possesses — whom Allaah has given to you, and the daughters of your ‘Amm (paternal uncles) and the daughters of your ‘Ammaat (paternal aunts) and the daughters of your Khaal (maternal uncles) and the daughters of your Khaalaat (maternal aunts) who migrated (from Makkah) with you, and a believing woman if she offers herself to the Prophet, and the Prophet wishes to marry her a privilege for you only, not for the (rest of) the believers. Indeed We know what We have enjoined upon them about their wives and those (slaves) whom their right hands possess, in order that there should be no difficulty on you. And Allaah is Ever Oft‑Forgiving, Most Merciful”
[al-Ahzaab 33:50]
“And those who guard their chastity (i.e. private parts from illegal sexual acts).
Except from their wives or the (women slaves) whom their right hands possess for (then) they are not blameworthy.
But whosoever seeks beyond that, then it is those who are trespassers”
[al-Ma’aarij 70:29-31]
** continued **
You and I discussed this concept in the other thread and I took your word for it that the master/slave relationship with regard to marriage and right hand possessions was only that Muslim men could marry slave girls (believing ones), but that Muslim men could not just have sexual intercourse with slave girls they had not first legally married.
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