Under Islam, slaves have no legal rights whatsoever, they are considered as mere “things”, the property of their master, who may dispose of them in any way he chooses. Slaves cannot be guardians or testamentary executors, and what they earn belongs to Islam. There is no obligation on the part of the owner to free him.
In the early years of the Arab conquests, vast numbers of slaves were acquired by capture; “the use of this labor enabled the Arabs to live on the conquered land as a master class to exploit some of the economic potential of the rich Fertile Crescent”.
Arabs were deeply involved in the vast network of slave trading-they scoured the slave markets of China, India, and Southeast Asia. There were Turkish slaves from Central Asia, slaves from the Byzantine Empire, white slaves from Central and East Europe, and black slaves from West Africa and East Africa. Every city in the Islamic world had its slave market.
From the moment of their capture to the time of their sale, hundreds of slaves were forced to put up with degrading and inhuman conditions, and hundreds died of exhaustion and disease. The “lucky” ones became domestic servants, while the unlucky ones were exploited to the maximum working In the salt mines, draining the marshes, working in the cotton and sugar plantations. The female slaves were hired out as prostitutes. Otherwise, of course, they were at the entire sexual disposal of their mast.