Slavery, Abolition and Islam: Debating Freedom in the Islamic Tradition

In this Contemporary Islamic Studies seminar, Dr Haroon Bashir discusses his new book ‘Slavery, Abolition and Islam: Debating Freedom in the Islamic Tradition’ published in January 2025 by Oxford University Press Bio: Dr Haroon Bashir is Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Markfield Institute of Higher Education. He also serves as the Director of the Markfield Centre for Contemporary Islam. His research focuses on Islam's conversation with modernity and contemporary Islamic thought. His recent book, which he will be discussing today, was published in January 2025 by Oxford University Press and is entitled ‘Slavery, Abolition and Islam: Debating Freedom in the Islamic Tradition’. Abstract: The abolition of slavery remains a relatively new concept in human history and scholars from all religious traditions have attempted to navigate the religious and ethical questions raised by the historical acceptance of the practice. In this seminar, Haroon Bashir explores how scholars promoting abolition in the name of Islam transformed the debate around Islam and slavery. The seminar explores how abolitionism became the hegemonic position within contemporary Islamic thought and provides a genealogy of ‘Islamic abolitionist’ thought. Abolitionist arguments were not simply accepted when originally articulated, with defenders of the slave trade using the weight of historical tradition to emphasise the legitimacy of slavery. The strongly contested debates that ensued had huge ramifications for understandings of authority, tradition, and modernity within Islamic thought that are as present as they are past.