5 - The main root of slavery is the simultaneous existence...

5 - The main root of slavery is the simultaneous existence of the weak and the strong people in the human societies accompanied by an inclination towards oppression and exploitation. Then he continues with the following: Aristotle tried to prove that slavery existed, and will continue to exist naturally. This implies that God has created some people to be slaves for other people.

If we accept what this philosopher claims and consider slavery to be a natural phenomenon, then any attempts to free slaves would be opposed to nature and useless. The above is a brief expression of the roots of slavery as expressed by Montesquieu in Ruh ul-Qawanin.[^3] Islam’s Point of View on Slavery According to Islam and opposed to Aristotle’s views, man is born free and slavery is not a natural phenomenon. Imam Ali said: النّاسُ كُلُّهُم أحْرارٌ إلاّ مَن أَقَرَّ عَلى نَفْسِه بِالعُبودِيَّةِ.

“All people are born free except for those who (wrongfully) declare themselves to be slaves.” [^4] He also said: لا تَكُنْ عَبْدَ غَيرِكَ وَقَد جَعَلَكَ اللهُ حق السائس بالملك حُرّاً. “Do not be slaves for others since God has established you to be free.” [^5] These were the words of Imam Ali who was himself a hero and the most freedom-loving man. He expressed the fact that man is born free, and it is only due to some external factors that some people become slaves.

This condition is also not a permanent condition. The author of The History of Rome expressed the viewpoints of Romans about slaves as follows. “According to the law, a slave is not a person, but just a tool which can talk but has no rights.”[^6] Montesquieu wrote: “In Plato’s law it was expressed that a slave does not have the natural right to self-defense. This law stripped a slave from his natural right to self-defense if he was attacked.

At the same time, he was also not given any civil rights to defend himself. Therefore, he could not even go to court and file a complaint if he was attacked. In Spartan, the slaves could not file a complaint in court if they were hurt.

These slaves were so desperate that they were considered not just one person’s slave but slaves to the society.[^7] How Sick Can You Be One of the main entertaining events for the noble Roman men was to collect the poor slaves in an arena where hungry beasts like tigers and lions were let loose to attack them. They would then laugh their hearts out once the slaves started their cries and their shouting because of being torn apart by the beasts.

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