Ma malakat aymanukum and sex

Mā malakat aymānukum ("what your right hands possess", Arabic: ما ملكت أيمانکم‎‎) is a Quranic expression referring to slaves.

Bernard Lewis translates ma malakat aymanukum as "those whom you own."Abdullah Yusuf Ali translates it as "those whom your right hands possess", as does M. H. Shakir.N. J. Dawood translates the phrase more idiomatically as "those whom you own as slaves."

The expression ma malakat aymanukum and its variants are found in 15 Quranic passages. It is the most common of the seven separate terms used in the Quran to refer to slaves. The Quranic vocabulary for slaves is significantly different from classical Arabic, where the most common terms for slave are ‘abd (used in the Quran mainly in the sense servant/worshipper of God) and raqiq (not found in the Quran). According to Jonathan E. Brockopp, the use of the phrase ma malakat aymanukum and the cognate term mamluk (possessed) makes it clear that slaves in the Quranic discourse are regarded as property.

In the 20th century, South Asian scholars Ghulam Ahmed Pervez and Amir Ali argued that the expression ma malakat aymanukum should be properly read in the past tense. When some called for reinstatement of slavery in Pakistan upon its independence from the British colonial rule, Pervez argued that the past tense of this expression means that the Quran had imposed "an unqualified ban" on slavery.

The Quran treats slavery and freedom not as part of the natural order but admits it is indeed a happening as was the nature of humans from days of yore, and states this distinction as an example of God's grace. It regards this discrimination between human beings as in accordance with the divinely established order of things and to undermine this order is to act against God.

Pious exhortations from jurists to free men to address their slaves by such euphemistic terms as "my boy" and "my girl" stemmed from the belief that God, not their masters, was responsible for the slave's status. The Quran does not explicitly state anywhere that a slave is a spiritual equal of a free Muslim. The Quran does state that all humans are valued by God for their deeds and not their worldly status.

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