QURAN PERMITS SEXUAL SLAVERY AND THE TAKING OF CAPTIVES FOREVER The Quran does not abolish slavery or sexual exploitation of war captives. It regulates and permanently authorizes both practices as lawful under Allah’s order. SEXUAL SLAVERY AUTHORIZED IN THE QURAN Quran 23:5-6 commands believing men to guard their private parts except from their wives or those whom their right hands possess. This phrase refers to female slaves and female war captives. The text places these owned women in the same sexual category as wives, making sexual relations with them fully lawful without any requirement for marriage. Quran 70:29-30 repeats the exact same permission in nearly identical wording. Quran 4:24 strengthens the rule by declaring that married women are forbidden except those whom your right hands possess. This means Muslim men may take female captives for sexual use even if those women were previously married, because captivity overrides prior marital bonds after a waiting period. Quran 33:50 grants the prophet special permissions that explicitly include those whom his right hand possesses from among the captives, setting the authoritative example for Islamic law. CAPTIVES AND PERMANENT ENSLAVEMENT Quran 8:67-69 discusses the handling of captives and battle spoils, allowing enslavement as one of the permitted options alongside killing or ransom. Quran 47:4 orders striking the disbelievers until they are subdued, then binding the captives, with later choices limited to release or ransom but no prohibition against keeping them as permanent slaves. The system permits ongoing acquisition of slaves through war and allows generational continuation when children are born to slave mothers. Manumission is praised as a righteous act in verses such as Quran 90:13 and 2:177 and is required in certain cases of expiation like Quran 4:92 and 5:89. However, these encouragements remain optional good deeds. The Quran never commands the universal abolition of slavery or declares human ownership itself to be evil. CONTRAST WITH BIBLICAL TEACHING The Bible directly condemns the practices the Quran authorizes. Exodus 21:16 imposes the death penalty for man-stealing whether the victim is sold or found in possession. Biblical law restrains abuse of servants and grounds human dignity in the image of God from Genesis 1:26-27. Sexual relations are restricted exclusively to the marriage covenant with no separate category for sexual ownership of captives or concubines. OLD TESTAMENT MOSAIC LAW In stark contrast to the Quran’s permanent, hereditary sexual slavery with no path to freedom, Old Testament Hebrew servitude functioned as a temporary economic safety net for God’s people. If a fellow Israelite fell into poverty, he could sell his labor — not his person — for a maximum of six years, after which he was to be released freely (Exodus 21:2, Deuteronomy 15:12). Leviticus 25:39-42 goes even further, commanding that an impoverished brother be treated as a hired worker, not a slave, and released with his family in the Year of Jubilee. This system allowed families to survive hardship, work off debts, and return to freedom and their land — the very opposite of Islam’s view of captives as lifelong property. Biblical law regulated and limited servitude; the Quran enshrines it as an eternal divine right. When Israel went to war with other nations (whether defensive or as judgment commanded by God), they were permitted to take captives, including women and children. However, the Mosaic Law did put real protections on them — especially for women taken in war. When Israel conquered an enemy nation in war, the Mosaic Law still provided protections even for foreign captives. Deuteronomy 21:10-14 required that any woman taken captive could not be used as a concubine immediately. She had to be brought into the man’s household, shave her head, trim her nails, and mourn her parents for a full thirty days before any marriage could take place. If the Israelite man later lost interest in her, he was forbidden from selling her for money. He had to set her free — he could not treat her as merchandise. This stands in total opposition to the Quran, which grants Muslim men permanent sexual rights over captive women with no mourning period, no protections, and no possibility of mandatory release. THE NEW TESTAMENT The New Testament trajectory moves toward equality where there is neither slave nor free in Christ according to Galatians 3:28, and masters are commanded to treat those under them with justice and without threats. REAL-WORLD IMPLICATIONS These Quranic permissions supplied religious justification for centuries of slave markets, concubinage systems, and captive-taking across Islamic empires and under classical Sharia law. The text leaves slavery as a permanent legal institution rather than a temporary evil to be phased out. Modern attempts to claim gradual abolition or mere historical tolerance collapse against the plain authorization that remains in the claimed final revelation. This doctrine creates an irreconcilable moral divide with biblical teaching that identifies the theft and sexual exploitation of human beings as sin against the one true God who created every person with inherent dignity. The real meaning of these verses is unmistakable. They sanctify the ownership and sexual use of captives as lawful forever under Allah while the Bible condemns the same actions as evil and calls every human being to freedom and equality rooted in creation and redemption through Christ. If it’s within your capacity and you value these educational posts, we appreciate any support on our ‘Buy Me a Coffee’ link found in our profile.