Slavery in Islam and Slavery in the West

And whenever we talk about slavery in Islam, it's a completely different thing compared to the slavery that existed in Europe or America. So one shouldn't compare the two or consider them equal. It's different; slavery in Islam is different. Slaves had rights, they were treated well, they were respected, they became scholars, they became kings. For example, many of these slaves became scholars among the Tābiʿūn, and some of them even ruled and became kings, like with Dawlat al-Mamālīk. This was an entire dynasty that was called the dynasty of the slaves. These were slaves who became kings. That's something unimaginable in the Western institution of slavery.

Plus, slavery among Muslims had nothing to do with ethnicity, unlike in the West. For example, in America, slavery was: only blacks can be slaves, and only whites can be the owners of the slaves. That's not the case in Islam. A slave could be white, could be black, could be Arab. Over here, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) enslaved people who are Arab. And we know that in the wars between the Muslims and the Roman empire, their prisoners of war were taken as slaves, and these are European. And you also had African slaves, such as Bilāl; and Salmān al-Fārisī was a Persian slave. So it had nothing to do with ethnicity. It's unlike the Western system of slavery, which is nothing more than racism.

So anyway, she made the mukātabah. And this is something that shows that if a slave isn't pleased with that profession — because that was really what it was in Islam; it was a profession — then they have the right to change it, and that is what Juwayriyah wanted to do. She made a mukātabah between her and her master.