To free the slave or enslave the free? Reading and rereading slavery in the Islamic Tradition

This thesis constitutes a theological study exploring competing understandings of slavery within Islamic thought. The purpose of this study is to assess to what extent it can be coherently claimed that the abolition of slavery is compatible with the Islamic tradition. This includes an analysis of classical interpretations of slavery, as well as modern reformist approaches that are described as ‘Islamic abolitionism’. Moreover, this study explores why aspects of scripture and tradition pertaining to slavery began to be considered ‘problematic’ in the modern era, how different thinkers and schools have attempted to address the issue, and the extent to which they have been successful.