science

Slavery in 21st-century jihadism

Slavery in 21st-century jihadism is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Slavery in 21st-century jihadism rather than just read about it. In short: Quasi-state-level jihadist groups, including Boko Haram and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, have captured and enslaved women and children, often for sexual slavery. In 2014 in particular, both groups organised mass kidnappings of large numbers of girls and younger women.

Key takeaways

Slavery in 21st-century jihadism belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Slavery in 21st-century jihadism to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Slavery in 21st-century jihadism from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Quasi-state-level jihadist groups, including Boko Haram and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, have captured and enslaved women and children, often for sexual slavery. In 2014 in particular, both groups organised mass kidnappings of large numbers of girls and younger women.

Historical background

Medieval to modern period

Slavery was historically deemed a lawful institution in the Muslim world. In various historical interpretations of Islamic law, non-Muslims conquered under Muslim rule could be subject to different legal outcomes, including conversions, payment of the jizya tax, exile and enslavement. and the females among such enslaved non-Muslims are deemed lawful to have sexual relations with - these enslaved females are called, "Ma malakat aymanuhum" which means, "What your right hand possesses". Slavery was common during the medieval Arab slave trade, in which prisoners of war captured from non-Arab lands often became enslaved. Enslaved women were sometimes used as concubines ; if such a woman gave birth to a child acknowledged by her master, she could attain the status of umm al-walad, meaning she would be freed upon her master’s death.

Abolition period

Chattel slavery survived longest in the Middle East, and was eventually banned during the 20th-century due to pressure from Western nations and international bodies such as the UN. After the Trans-Atlantic slave trade had been suppressed, the ancient Trans-Saharan slave trade, the Indian Ocean slave trade and the Red Sea slave trade continued to traffic slaves from the African continent to the Middle East. During the 20th century, the issue of chattel slavery was addressed and investigated globally by international bodies created by the League of Nations and the United Nations, such as the Temporary Slavery Commission in 1924–1926, the Committee of Experts on Slavery in 1932, and the Advisory Committee of Experts on Slavery in 1934–1939. By the time of the UN Ad Hoc Committee on Slavery in 1950–1951, legal chattel slavery still existed only in the Arabian Peninsula: in Oman, in Qatar, in Saudi Arabia, in the Trucial States and in Yemen. Legal chattel slavery was finally abolished in the Arabian Peninsula in the 1960s: Saudi Arabia and Yemen in 1962, in Dubai in 1963, and Oman as the last in 1970. Earlier in the 20th century, Islamist authors declared slavery outdated without actually clearly affirming and promoting its abolition. This has caused at least one scholar (William Clarence-Smith) to criticize the notable "evasions and silences of Muhammad Qutb" and the "dogged refusal of Abul A'la Maududi to give up on slavery".

Sayyid Qutb, a leading scholar of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood wrote in his tafsir (commentary of the Quran) that slavery was a way of handling prisoners-of-war and it "was necessary for Islam to adopt a similar line of practise until the world devised a new code of practise during war other than enslavement". Qutb's brother and promoter, Muhammad Qutb, vigorously defended Islamic slavery, telling his audience that "Islam gave spiritual enfranchisement to slaves" and "in the early period of Islam the slave was exalted to such a noble state of humanity as was never before witnessed in any other part of the world." He contrasted the adultery, prostitution, and (what he called) "that most odious form of animalism" casual sex that are found in Europe, with (what he called) "that clean and spiritual bond that ties a maid [i.e. slave girl] to her master in Islam." Abul A'la Maududi, the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami in the early 20th century, meanwhile wrote:

Islam has clearly and categorically forbidden the primitive practice of capturing a free man, to make him a slave or to sell him into slavery. On this point the clear and unequivocal words of [Muhammad] are as follows: There are three categories of people against whom I shall myself be a plaintiff on the Day of Judgement. Of these three, one is he who enslaves a free man, then sells him and eats this money" (al-Bukhari and Ibn Majjah). The words of this Tradition of the Prophet are also general, they have not been qualified or made applicable to a particular nation, race, country or followers of a particular religion.....After this the only form of slavery which was left in Islamic society was the prisoners of war, who were captured on the battlefield. These prisoners of war were retained by the Muslim Government until their government agreed to receive them back in exchange for Muslim soldiers captured by them..... According to some scholars, there has been a "reopening" of the issue of slavery by some conservative Salafi Islamic scholars after its "closing" earlier in the 20th century when Muslim countries banned slavery and "most Muslim scholars" found the practice "inconsistent with Qur'anic morality."

21st-century Islamist revival

ISIS

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Slavery in 21st-century jihadism: Sayyid Qutb. — Sayyid Qutb.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Slavery in 21st-century jihadism

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Slavery in 21st-century jihadism claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Slavery in 21st-century jihadism before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Slavery in 21st-century jihadism ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Slavery in 21st-century jihadism

In research: Slavery in 21st-century jihadism appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Slavery in 21st-century jihadism in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Slavery in 21st-century jihadism is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 21st century in slavery, Contemporary slavery, Human commodity auctions, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Slavery in 21st-century jihadism outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Slavery in 21st-century jihadism in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Slavery in 21st-century jihadism means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Slavery in 21st-century jihadism in simple terms?

Why does Slavery in 21st-century jihadism matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Slavery in 21st-century jihadism?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Slavery in 21st-century jihadism.