Slavery is not "illegal" according to Sharia (nor was it illegal according to biblical Jewish law, but it got delegalized in later Rabbinic rulings when the Talmud was "sealed" by Rabbi Caro, if memory serves). Douglas Fant on the Talisman thread often documents current enslaving activities in Sudan and Saudi Arabia, including the "Trade in white flesh". As far as I know, these are unique instances of relatively wide spread slavery. Historically, if you were vanquished by the advancing Muslims conquerors, you were either enslaved or converted to Islam, conversion did spare you from slavery. That sounds better than the Spanish inquisition that insisted on conversion, or death (g),
I believe that Muslim raiders contributed the majority of slaves to the slave trade going to the "new world". Currently, I believe you are right, and slavery is not a common denominator of all Islamic countries, only a depraved minority (depraved is my personal "moral standard" and from their point of view, it is probably completely different).
Zeev |
