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14 - Slave Boys in Paradise? The Text of the Quran and Its Later Exegetes

from Part IV - Social and Religious Histories of Slavery on the Borders of the Empire and Beyond

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2022

Chris L. de Wet
Affiliation:
University of South Africa
Maijastina Kahlos
Affiliation:
University of Helsinki
Ville Vuolanto
Affiliation:
University of Tampere, Finland
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Summary

The issues of slavery in classical Islamic law and thought as well as the social reality of slaves and ex-slaves (clients) in the medieval Near East have been gaining increased attention in recent decades. Much remains to be done, however. For instance, I am not aware of any specific study (book or article) focusing on slavery and slaves in the Quran or Quranic environment. I will begin this chapter by briefly discussing the Quranic passages that have a bearing on slavery in the late antique Arabian context before moving on to deal in detail with one specific verse, Quran 52:24, which seems to suggest that, in fact, there might be slaves in the afterlife serving the believers. The crux of the matter is the interpretation of the expression ghilmān lahum, which could be understood as ‘slave boys belonging to them’, ‘young servants of theirs’, or simply ‘children of theirs’.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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