In those days...

In those days, there were no prisons in which the prisoners of war could be held until their affairs were sorted out, and hence, there lay no alternative except to retain them by distributing them amongst the families as slaves. It is self-evident that when these circumstances change, there exists no reason for the leader of the Muslims to adhere to the ruling of slavery in connection with the prisoners of war; rather, he is at liberty to set them free by way of favour or ransom.

In this regard, Islam has authorized the leader of the Muslims to take into consideration the general welfare and all-around interests and then choose the course of action necessary. In this manner, the causes leading to further slavery were almost completely eliminated.

The Second Part: Opening the Door Towards Freedom Islam has chalked out an elaborate program for the freedom of slaves, and had the Muslims acted upon it, it would not have been very long before all the slaves had become free and absorbed into Islamic society. The Main Points of this Program One of the eight instances in which zakat can be expended in Islam is purchasing slaves and setting them free [1] .

In this manner, a perpetual and continuous budget from the Public Treasury has been allocated for this purpose and shall continue till the complete freedom of all slaves is achieved. In pursuance of the objective, provisions exist in Islam which permit the slaves to enter into an agreement with their masters and purchase their freedom by paying them from the wages which they earn (in Islamic jurisprudence, an entire chapter titled Mukatabah has been devoted to this issue) [2] .