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When Islam was reveled to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), slavery was a worldwide common social phenomenon; it was much older than Islam. Slavery was deeply rooted in every society to the extent that it was impossible to imagine a civilized society without slaves. In spite of this social fact, Islam was the first religion to recognize slavery as a social illness that needed to be addressed. Since slavery was deeply rooted in the society, Islam did not abolish it at once. Rather, Islam treated slavery in the same manner it treated other social illnesses. Islam followed the same methodology of gradual elimination in dealing with this social disease as it did with other social illnesses, for example: the prohibition of alcohol in three steps.

From the early days of the message, Islam declared the equality of all human beings, including slaves; equality in origin, equality in values, equality in destiny. Under this declaration, for the first time ever, slaves became brothers and sisters of their masters in the Islamic Ummah (community). In al-Bukhari, it was reported that the Prophet said:

"Your servants and your slaves are your brothers. Anyone who has slaves should give them from what he eats and wears. He should not charge them with work beyond their capabilities. If you must set them to hard work, in any case, I advise you to help them."

Islam forbade the traditional practice of enslaving free individuals by capturing them and selling them into slavery. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said:

"There are three categories of people against whom I myself shall be a plaintiff on the Day of Judgment. Of those three, one is he who enslaves free men, then sells him and eats this money…"

Sister Fatima