Islam, Slavery, and Racism: The Use of Strategy in the Pursuit of Human Rights (1987)*

Slavery is one of the most controversial and arresting topics in humanhistory. The question of Islam in relation to slavery has been an issue ofconcern among scholars for a long time. It became a question in which manyOrientalists found a convenient gap to pass through in their attacks againstthe system of governance and justice in Islam. This self-righteous criticismagainst the attitude of Islam towards slavery is part of a long Western traditionof scholarship based on stereotyping, overstating, and selectivity of Islamin particular and the Orient in general. Most of the time, the statements ofthese scholars are presented in a sugar-coated style of language that is moredangerous than if they were presented in a critical, open, and direct language.Thomas Carlyle, Renan, Goldziher, Macdonald, von Grunebaum, Gibb andBernard Lewis are good examples and representatives of this tradition. *This article was first published in the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 4, no. 1 (1987): 31-50