The Muslim Woman and Her Male Slave

The Muslim woman has no right to sexually enjoy the male slave. This right is reserved only for the Muslim man, who can force his female slave (who has no rights) to have sexual intercourse with him. Islam also forbids the marriage of a free woman and her slave; she can only marry him if she first frees him. However, the condition for such a marriage is that the freed slave must be Muslim because sharī‘a (Islamic law) does not allow for the marriage of a Muslim woman to a non-Muslim man. The law only gives the Muslim man the right to marry a non-Muslim woman.

The Muslim woman does not have the right to sexually enjoy her male slave, unlike the Muslim man with his female slave. What is common in both instances is the Qur’ānic supposition that both slaves, male and female, are considered lesser humans. This supposition appears to be the rationale behind the inclusion of slaves concerning the types of people who may view an unveiled Muslim woman, as shown in the listing in Q 24.31:

And say to the believing women that they cast down their looks and guard their private parts, and display not their ornaments…save to their husbands and fathers, or the fathers of their husbands, or their sons, or the sons of their husbands, or their brothers, or their brothers’ sons, or their sisters’ sons, or their women, or what their right hands possess, or their male attendants who are incapable, or to children who do not note women’s nakedness…. (Emphasis added)

The expression “what their right hands possess” refers to slaves, whether they are males or females. This view is supported by two of Muhammad’s wives, ‘Ā’isha and Umm Salama.

It is also narrated that Muhammad gifted Fāţima, his favorite daughter, a male slave. However, Muhammad informed her that she could behave in the presence of this male slave just like she could in the presence of her father. This exception regarding her male slave is surprising because a Muslim woman is obligated to abide by the veil condition in the presence of any males unrelated to her. Allowing a Muslim woman to trespass this condition regarding her male slave(s) goes back to the supposition that the rules and conditions made for humans do not apply to a slave.