Surat al-Mu'minoon ayah 6-7

إِلاَّ عَلَى أَزْوَجِهِمْ أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَـنُهُمْ فَإِنَّهُمْ غَيْرُ مَلُومِينَ - فَمَنِ ابْتَغَى وَرَآءَ ذلِكَ فَأُوْلَـئِكَ هُمُ الْعَادُونَ

Except for their wives or what their right hands possess, for that they are free from blame (6)

And whoever seeks beyond that , they are transgressors (astray) (7)

//ilaa 3la azoowajihim aw ma malakat aymanuhum fa innahum ghairu maloomeen//. (6)
//faman ibtagha waraa'a dhalika fa oola'ika hum al3adoon// (7)

Stranger: Last time we discussed the characteristic of the mu'min of guarding him/herself from unlawful sex. Today we move on to ayat 6 and 7 which let us know the boundaries of halal sexual relations and these relationships are clear - your spouse, the one to whom you are legally married, and the other is what the right hand possesses. this is referring to captives or slaves. For us in this time this sounds atrocious, so can you explain for us the wisdom behind this legality.

Dr. First you need to understand that the nature of slavery or captives of war is nothing like the slavery of the Western concept. In Islam a slave has rights, the owner must provide food of the same quality of his own family and clothes of the same quality of his own family and suitable dignified accommodation. If a slave owner does not give the slave his or her rights that slave may take the matter to court and complain to the authorities.  It may sound odd because we don't have this in our current lives, the slaves have either all been freed or that we have left the Jihad and no longer taking war booty.

When a slave woman is in a mans house she is always around and seen by the man, so to protect "furoojihim" that we spoke about last session, to protect him from zina of eyes and illegal sex, Allah the Most Wise has made halal the sexual relations between the slave owner and the slave woman. Once he engages in this relationship with her, he is responsible for her as much as he is responsible for his wives and if the woman bears children, those children are not slaves and enjoy total free status as the man's legitimate children and the slave woman cannot be sold to another - she is hers and if the man wants separation from her he can simply free her and she is free - no longer a slave. Islam is responsible for the freeing of more slaves than any other group or nation.

That woman herself may have desires and needs, and the want of having children so in this system she is not merely a sex slave but a member of the family. Also as a woman she gains a mahram who not only looks after her and provides for her but protects her.

These are the limits set by Allah the Most High, the Most Merciful and He knows His creation and He is Most Wise.

What would happen to women taken as war captives by people not practicing Islam? They simply become sex slaves with no right to anything and an awful existance.