Islamic views on concubinage

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In classical Islamic law, a concubine was an unmarried slave-woman with whom her master engaged in sexual relations.^[1] Concubinage was widely accepted by Muslim scholars in pre-modern times. Most^[2] modern Muslims, both scholars and laypersons,^[3] believe that Islam no longer permits concubinage and that sexual relations are religiously permissible only within marriage.^[4]

Concubinage was a custom practiced in both pre-Islamic Arabia and the wider Near East and Mediterranean.^[5] The Quran allowed this custom by requiring that a man not have sexual relations with anyone except for his wife or concubine. Muhammad had a concubine Maria the Copt who had been given to him as a gift by al-Muqawqis with whom he had a son. Some sources say he later freed and married her,^[1] while others dispute this. Classical Islamic jurists did not place any limits on how many concubines a man could have. Prostitution of concubines was prohibited. A concubine who gave birth to a child acknowledged by the father was given the special status of an umm al-walad;^[6] she could not be sold and was automatically free after her master's death.^[7] The acknowledged children of a concubine were considered free, legitimate and equal in status to the children from a man's wife.

With abolition of slavery in the Muslim world, the practice of concubinage came to an end.^[1] Many modern Muslims see slavery as contrary to Islamic principles of justice and equality, however, Islam had a different system of slavery, that involved many intricate rules on how to handle slaves.^[3][8]