Islam totally objects and fights all forms of slavery. The focus of Islam in all its teachings and rites was to eradicate this prevailing practice. Now, slavery has been abolished by international conventions, and this goes in line with the goals of Islam.
Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
“There is no single verse in the Qur’an ordering Muslims to practise slavery; all of the verses in the Qur’an are about freeing slaves. Qur’an came to a milieu where slavery was rampant; and the Qur’an taught that humans are slaves of none but God alone. It also taught explicitly that all of humans have right to freedom and dignity which cannot be taken away by anyone.
As for the existing institution of slavery, which was common to the pre-Islamic world in many societies, Islam’s approach was to eradicate it altogether. Therefore Qur’an declared freeing the slaves as the greatest virtue. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) freed every single slave who came to his ownership; his companions followed his example, and set free the slaves. Therefore, neither Islam nor the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) instituted slavery; rather it reformed an existing institution first and later eradicated it altogether. For the clear teaching of Islam as reiterated by caliph `Umar was: People are born free; no one has right to enslave them. And the leader of the Muslim delegation to Persia also declared, when asked to describe Islam’s mission: God has commissioned us to take out people from slavery of men to servitude of Allah and from tyranny to justice.”