As you all probably heard a million times, that ironically, Islam came down on the Arabian peninsula at a time where bondage and female brutalization were so widespread that people living there used to bury their newborn baby daughters alive out of shame. So, God decided to send a prophet, to rescue women, free the slaves, fight the unrepentant transgressors, and call on the people there to worship God instead of taking their handmade palm figures for gods. And so Muhammad freed the slaves, protected women and give them their rights, and he delivered God's message to humans; the Qur'an. What is even more Ironic is that the right hand possession status, the very legal term God uses to protect freed men, women, and orphans (who leave their families voluntarily or otherwise) has been used to refer to them as slaves.
You'd think a divine Book and a prophet would be enough for a nation to fix their inhumanity, but we all know it wasn't, we know what Saudi Arabia is, and God has a few things to say about what he knew they'd do to women despite his message:
And they ascribe the daughters to God. Glory to him and to them is what they desire (16.57) And when one of them is foretold a female child, his face becomes gloomy and he is choked with grief (16.58) He hides himself from the community because of his misfortune. Does he either hold it with despair, or bury it in the soil? Is it not so dreadful the way they rule? (16.59)
These verses clearly refer to our times and not the prophet’s, because back then they buried their daughters, but now they force them into ascribing to God instead, so God has left them to do what they desire, and women’s dedication to him will surely be taken. Moreover, they didn’t have the technology to foretell an unborn child’s sex back then, but they do now. God makes an example of them; they might have stopped burying their daughters (one hopes), but their abusive inclinations with women persist.
It’s not just the kingdom now, because they successfully distorted God’s message to make their misogynistic nature contagious. Therefore, most Muslim countries indeed are abusive to women, because they decided to trust human composed ‘hadiths’ coming out of that country that has nothing to do with what the Qur’an says, and men liked them because it gave them more control over women and their households in general.
So, what is right hand possession (ملك اليمين) really about?
Although the word ‘possession’ might throw you off at first, we first need to understand that it was God’s plan to leave some space for misinterpretation. God wants his words to be vague enough for everyone to follow their hearts inclinations, that is why he says:
He is the One who has revealed to you the Book out of which there are distinctive verses - they are the foundation of the Book, and others that are analogous. So, those who have perversity in their hearts go after its inclinations, seeking discord, and seeking to spread their interpretation, while no one knows its interpretation except God, and those well-grounded in knowledge say: “We believe in it; all is from our Lord.” And none will grasp except those of understanding. (3.7)
The term 'right hand' in classical Arabic linguistics meant oath, pledge, or something to be sworn by. For instance, Arabs use the phrase يمين الله or “God’s right hand” to swear. The term would make more sense in English if we added ‘by’ as a prefix; it becomes “by God’s right hand”. Taking an oath by God’s right is meant to be a declaration of certainty; as if you’re calling God as a witness to what you’re claiming.
A believer’s “right hand possession” is what God has taken from them an oath upon, to be a witness to what they do to them. It is a trusteeship between God and his wealthy believers, to be kind and fair to whom they possess from his underprivileged believers. This also implies the significance of this relationship to God; it is a right he granted to Muslims in need, and a vow he has taken from Muslims in capability. Bizarrely enough, nations of Islam never seem to associate that term with anything in their lives - so much that even adoption is now morally and religiously questionable to them.
Right hand possession is the term God uses to give a believer the right to absolve themselves from their blood relatives if they wanted to. It was never meant to refer to slaves nor women, it was actually used to free them, and give an outing to any believer that has an unfit family. People who came to believe during prophet Muhammad reign obviously had to cut ties with their barbaric families, and the Qur’an gave them the right to stay with whomever they wanted from other believers as long as they agreed to take them in. In simple terms, it is an adoption that is initiated voluntarily by the person who wants to abandon their family. There is no age or gender constraints; any believer in Islam can become a right hand possession of any other believer that agrees to take them in and support them. God never glorified blood relations over mutually agreed ones, and in legal Quranic terms, guardians and their right hand possessions are effectively family.
To make it burdenless for his underprivileged believers to find new families, and for his capable believers to take them in, God wrote verses that immunizes them from social conducts that would otherwise be prohibited; a way for them to become effectively family, without confusing blood relations.
Right hand possession laws
God includes women's male right hand possessions among the ones in front of which they aren’t required to cover their privates:
And tell the (female) believers to restrain their gazes and preserve their orifices and to not expose their adornments except for what has been exposed of it, and to use their garments to cover their breasts, and to not expose their adornments except to their partners or their fathers or their partners' fathers or their sons or their partners' sons or their brothers or their brothers' sons or their sisters' sons or their women or whom their right hand possesses or male attendants with no primary sexual attraction or the children who have not yet appealed to women's beauty, and to not stamp with their feet to draw attention to their beauty. And repent to God all of you O' believers may you be winners. (24.31)
Men are allowed to seek their female right hand possessions sexually:
And those who preserve their orifices, except from their wives or whom their right hand possesses - they are not to be blamed. (70:29-30)
Believers are obligated to sufficiently and generously provide for their right hand possessions:
And God has given some of you preference over others in provision. So, those given preference are not (allowed) to withhold their provision from whom their right hand possesses - in it they are equal. Would they (otherwise) be repudiating the blessing of God? (16:71)
Right hand possessions are equal in their homes to their guardian's own children
God instructs guardians to always be approachable to their children and their right hand possessions alike, except for three specific periods during the day where they need to ask for permission:
O you who have believed, let those whom your right hands possess and those who have not yet reached puberty among you ask permission of you at three periods: before the dawn prayer and when you put aside your clothing at noon and after the night prayer. Three times of privacy for you. There is no blame upon you nor upon them beyond them, for they continually circulate among you - some of you, among others. Thus does God make clear to you the verses; and God is all knowing and wise. (24.58)
God makes asking for permission obligatory for the guardian’s matured off-spring only, while possessed persons reserve their right to approach them and roam the house without permission regardless of their age.
And when the children among you reach puberty, let them ask permission [at all times] as those before them have done. Thus does God make clear to you his verses; and God is all knowing and wise. (24.59)
Right hand possession in Islam is a mutually binding relationship; guardians are free to accept as much people into their homes as they can provide for, and possessed people are always free to walk away or look for a new home whenever they’re ready.
Dire misconceptions about this term have infested our hearts and minds for so long, when in fact it is an essential right bestowed to all believers. That was their plan, the true form of Islam has always been too progressive for Arabs. I believe it's time we get back on track, and unchain from the family ownership shackles that hurt us for so long. We need none but God on our side.
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