{"id":1339,"date":"2015-11-10T11:46:44","date_gmt":"2015-11-10T11:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cornellilj.org\/?p=1339"},"modified":"2015-11-10T11:46:44","modified_gmt":"2015-11-10T11:46:44","slug":"darby-a-perversion-of-islamic-ethics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/publications.lawschool.cornell.edu\/cilj\/2015\/11\/10\/darby-a-perversion-of-islamic-ethics\/","title":{"rendered":"A Perversion of Islamic Ethics, Vol. 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

CC image courtesy of Themeplus<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Perversion of Islamic Ethics: ISIL and its Treatment of Concubines<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written by the CILJ Online Team<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claims to be an Islamic state with a true Sharia\u2019a<\/em> legal system.[1] Sharia\u2019a<\/em>, or Islamic law, is the system in which governments use Islamic verses and teachings as the basis for their legal system.[2] The ultimate Sharia\u2019a<\/em> authority is the Quran, as Muslims believe it to be the direct word of God (Allah). If there are questions unanswered by the Quran, the next source for law is the Hadith<\/em>, or accounts of the Prophet and his companions\u2019 acts.[3]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August, 2014, ISIL abducted hundreds of Yazidi civilians upon the capture of the Sinjar region in Northern Iraq.[4] Young women and girls, \u201csome as young as 12,\u201d were forced into sex slavery by the self-proclaimed \u201cIslamic State.\u201d[5] The United Nations Security Council has condemned sexual violence in armed conflict, saying that rape may constitute a war crime or a crime against humanity.[6]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ISIL claims its authority to carry out such actions, however, from the Quran and Hadith, ignoring the legitimacy of international law. Late last year, ISIL created a manual on how its fighters may treat female slaves according to their interpretation of Sharia\u2019a law.[7] This document contains guidelines on when and how it is permissible both to rape and beat slaves.[8] The most shocking portions include the idea that it is acceptable immediately to rape a non-Muslim woman upon capture, so long as she is a virgin.[9]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ISIL\u2019s idea of sex slavery is not entirely new to Islamic law, but their lack of ethics is a novelty. Sex slavery in Islam is known as ma malakat aymanukum<\/em> (\u0645\u0627 \u0645\u0644\u0643\u062a \u0623\u064a\u0645\u0627\u0646\u06a9\u0645). This phrase is often translated as \u201cthat which your right hand possesses\u201d\u2014 in other words, slaves.[10] This idea originates from the Quran, which explicitly states that Muslims may have sexual intercourse with slaves:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCertainly will the believers have succeeded: they who are during their prayer humbly submissive, and they who turn away from ill speech, and those who are observant of zakah, and they who guard their private parts, except for their wives or those their right hand possesses, for indeed, they will not be blamed.\u201d[11]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd (also prohibited to you are all) married women except those your right hand possesses.\u201d[12]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo consume what you have taken of war booty (as being) lawful and good, and fear Allah. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. O Prophet, say to whoever is in your hands of the captives, \u2018If Allah knows (any) good in your hearts, He will give you (something) better than what was taken from you, and He will forgive you; and Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.\u2019 But if they intend to betray you – then they have already betrayed Allah before, and He empowered (you) over them. And Allah is Knowing and Wise.[13]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hadith later elaborates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe got female captives in the war booty and we used to do coitus interruptus with them. So we asked Allah’s Apostle about it and he said, \u2018Do you really do that?\u2019 repeating the question thrice, \u2018There is no soul that is destined to exist but will come into existence, till the Day of Resurrection.\u2019\u201d[14]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A facial reading of these verses leads one to believe that sexual relations with slaves is permitted by the Quran and Hadith. The policies of the early Islamic empire reflected this allowance. The permissibility of sex with captives, regardless of consent, was taken for granted by men in the caliphate, including the Prophet.[15] Medieval Islamic tradition tells of the Prophet accepting the gift of a concubine from the Byzantine commander of Alexandria and releasing her when she bore him a child.[16] The concubine system in the early Islamic empire, however, was not without its ethics. The Quran explicitly recommends freeing slaves.[17] It also states that masters should allow slaves who perform good deeds to purchase their own freedom.[18] Most importantly, masters were forbidden from pimping unwilling female slaves.[19] Early Islamic jurists developed punishments for masters who mistreated their slaves, including forced manumission for egregious offenses.[20]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The institution of ma malakat aymanukum<\/em> grew along with the Islamic Empire. Female slaves became widely available with the empire\u2019s conquests, spurring a \u201charem culture\u201d among the Islamic elite.[21] Legal voices confirmed this expansion for the next several centuries. The eighth century jurist al-Shafi\u2019i reflected the general legal consensus when he wrote that a man can take as many concubines as he wished, as God did not limit this in any way.[22] Muhammad \u2018Ala al-Din Haskafi, a seventeenth century religious and legal scholar, suggested that the notion of limiting a man with a thousand concubines from taking another is tantamount to heresy.[23]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slavery (and, presumably, sexual relations with slaves) continued in states governed by Sharia\u2019a law until the 1960\u2019s. Slavery was a part of life in Arabia and surrounding countries, with slaves being imported into the peninsula until the late nineteenth century.[24] Slavery was only abolished in Saudi Arabia in 1964, when King Saud finalized a formal plan to end slavery.[25] Saud claimed that slavery must be abolished because of the practical concern that the Quranic ethics of slavery were no longer feasible in reality.[26]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past several decades, there has been an explosion of moderate and reformist voices in the world of Islamic jurisprudence.[27] These scholars\u2019 interpretations of Islam are much more liberal; such interpretations extend to political Islam on a holistic level, but also to institutions as controversial as sex slavery.[28] Because of these modern reforms in the area of slavery, most Muslims support the liberalized view of slavery. ISIL only has between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters out of approximately 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide.[29]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ISIL seeks broadly to return to the policies of the original Islamic caliphate, but ISIL does not share the caliphate\u2019s ethics about slavery. ISIL is clearly in tune with the medieval permissibility of owning slaves and having sex with them. ISIL ignores, however, the ethical restrictions placed upon slave masters mentioned in the Quran itself.[30] While the world does not know the extent of ISIL\u2019s actions in this area, we do know that ISIL fighters are pimping out their slaves in direct violation of the Quran.[31] ISIL has developed a system of \u201ctemporary marriage,\u201d which they claim is legally legitimate.[32] Women are forcibly \u201cmarried\u201d and \u201cdivorced\u201d at rapid paces, sometimes shared between dozens of men over the course of a few days.[33] Even under ISIL\u2019s own rules, one can see that this arrangement is a cheap loophole. ISIL does not allow its fighters to have intercourse with a female slave if owned by another master.[34] Even if the arrangement is temporary and the \u201chusband\u201d will return the \u201cwife\u201d to the master in short order, this rapid trading in blatant disregard of the Quran makes a mockery even of ISIL\u2019s own regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ISIL\u2019s idea of concubines is not new to Islamic jurisprudence. The concept of ma malakat aymanukum<\/em> originated in the Quran and was practiced for centuries. Even though slavery was relatively common in the Islamic world, there was a code of ethics that slave masters followed. ISIL has created their own ethical standards and their results are deplored worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citation: Cornell Online ILJ, A Perversion of Islamic Ethics: ISIL and its Treatment of Concubines, 3 Cornell Int\u2019l L.J. Online 18 (2015).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[1] Lauren Williams, \u2018This is Not Islam:\u2019 Refugees Describe Life Under ISIL in Raqqa, Syria<\/em>, Al Jazeera America (Aug. 1, 2015), http:\/\/america.aljazeera.com\/articles\/2015\/8\/1\/this-is-not-islam-refugees-describing-life-under-isil-in-raqqa-syria.html.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2] Toni Johnson & Mohammad Ayl Sergie, Islam: Governing Under Sharia<\/em>, Council on Foreign Rel. (July 25, 2014), http:\/\/www.cfr.org\/religion\/islam-governing-under-sharia\/p8034.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3] Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[4] Escape From Hell Torture and Sexual Slavery in Islamic State Captivity in Iraq<\/em>, Amnesty Int\u2019l December, 4 (2014) http:\/\/www.amnesty.org.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/escape_from_hell_-_torture_and_sexual_slavery_in_islamic_state_captivity_in_iraq_-_english_2.pdf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[5] Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[6] S.C. Res. 1820, \u00b6 4 (June 19, 2008).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[7] Islamic State (ISIS) Releases Pamphlet On Female Slaves<\/em>, MEMRI Jihad & Terrorism Threat Monitor (Dec. 4, 2014), http:\/\/www.memrijttm.org\/islamic-state-isis-releases-pamphlet-on-female-slaves.html#_edn1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[8] Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[9] Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[10] Women and Men in Your Care<\/em>, Submission.org, (Oct. 8, 2015, 1:40 PM), http:\/\/submission.org\/Women_Men_in_your_Care.html.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[11] 23 The Believers<\/em> 1:6 (Quran.com).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[12] 4 Women<\/em> 24 (Quran.com).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[13] 8 Spoils of War<\/em> 69:71 (Quran.com).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[14] 7 Bukhari<\/em> 137<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[15] Kecia Ali, Sexual Ethics and Islam 49 (2006).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[16] Id<\/em>. at 39.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[17] 90 The City<\/em> 1:18 (Quran.com).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[18] 24 The Light<\/em> 33 (Quran.com).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[19] Ali, supra<\/em> note 15, at44-45.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[20] Id<\/em>. at 45.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[21] Id<\/em>. at 40-41.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[22] Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[23] Id. <\/em>at 41.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[24] Abdin Chande, Abolition in Saudi Arabia, in <\/em>Slavery in the Modern World 482 (Junius P. Rodriguez ed., 2011).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[25] Id<\/em>. at 483.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[26] Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[27] Hassan Hanafi, Reformist and Moderate Voices of Islam in the Arab East in<\/em> Reformist Voices of Islam 99 (Shireen T. Hunter ed. 2008).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[28] See generally<\/em> Bassam Tibi, Islamism and Islam (2012).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[30] See The Believers,<\/em> supra<\/em> note 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[31]John Hall, ISIS People Trafficker Charged with Forcing Syrian Refugee Children into Prostitution for Paedophile Ring He Ran in Turkey<\/em>, Daily Mail, (Mar. 4, 2015), http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-2978958\/ISIS-people-trafficker-charged-forcing-Syrian-refugee-children-prostitution-paedophile-ring-ran-Turkey.html<\/a>; See generally<\/em> ISIS Burns Woman Alive For Refusing \u2018Extreme Sex Act,\u2019<\/em> Toronto Sun (May 26, 2015),http:\/\/www.torontosun.com\/2015\/05\/26\/isis-burns-woman-alive-for-refusing-extreme-sex-act-un-official-says<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[32] Patrick Cockburn, War with ISIS,<\/em> Independent, (May 16, 2015), http:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/middle-east\/war-with-isis-the-grim-reality-of-life-under-the-islamist-group-in-iraq-10255422.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[33] See<\/em> Toronto Sun, supra<\/em> note 31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[34] MEMRI Jihad & Terrorism Threat Monitor, supra <\/em>note 7.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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[29] What An Estimate of 10,000 ISIS Fighters Killed Doesn\u2019t Tell Us<\/em>, PBS Frontline, (June 4, 2015), http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/pages\/frontline\/iraq-war-on-terror\/rise-of-isis\/what-an-estimate-of-10000-isis-fighters-killed-doesnt-tell-us\/<\/a>; The Future of World Religions<\/em>, Pew Res. Ctr. (Apr. 2, 2015), http:\/\/www.pewforum.org\/2015\/04\/02\/religious-projections-2010-2050\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n