Ma malakat aymanukum and sex
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In Islamic Divine Law (Arabic: Sharia), Ma malakat aymanukum is the term for captives of war. Among the rights and obligations they have is that they may legaly have sex with their master, making a Ma malakat aymanukum and spouses the only category of people one may have sex with.
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[edit] Rules
al-Muminun 6 and al-Maarij 30 both, in identical wording, draw a distinction between spouses and "those whom one's right hands possess", saying " أَزْوَاجِهِمْ أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُهُمْ" (literally, "their spouses or what their right hands possess"), while clarifying that sex with either is permissible. Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi explains that "two categories of women have been excluded from the general command of guarding the private parts: (a) wives, (b) women who are legally in one's possession". [1]
an-Nisa, 24 can be interpreted either as explaining that "those whom one's right hands possess" are the only category of women with whom one may have sex even if they are already married, or as using the term to refer to one's own wife as opposed to others' wives. The phrasing in the rest of that verse could be read in isolation either as excepting or as including "those whom one's right hands possess" among those to whom one must give a dowry "for the enjoyment you have of them." [citation needed]
The following verse adds that a believer, if he cannot afford to marry a chaste believer and cannot restrain his desires, may marry a believing girl who is chaste (not a fornicator or an adulteress) from among "those whom your right hands possess", giving due dowry to her household (literally "household", but translated by some as "owner" or "master"); if the woman so married commits indecency, the punishment is half that for chaste women. (To keep this verse from contradicting itself, the translators understand "chaste"—محصنات muhsanat—as meaning "free" in the general case, but "chaste" when referring to the slave.)
an-Nisa 3 also confirms that a believer may marry "that which your right hands possess", particularly if he fears that he will deal unjustly otherwise. al-Ahzab 50 confirms that, literally, "what your hand has taken from what God has assigned you" (understood by most translators as "from among the prisoners of war") are also permissible for the Prophet just as are his wives, and female cousins who emigrated with him, and believing women who wish to marry him, a point emphasised by al-Ahzab 52, which says that no other women than those mentioned are allowed him, even if their beauty pleases him, except those "whom his right hand possesses".
A female Ma malakat aymanukum is is to observe a Iddah period after having coming into that state, and after that period her master may approach her but he cannot force himself on her, he cannot have sex against her will. Equally she is not entitled legally to refuse without good reason, the exact same as a wife. But in the case that she does refuse, the relationship would naturally come to an end. If the man would abuse her, even a slap on her face would mean in Islam necessitating her freedom [2].
Verse 24:33 also states, "But force not your maids to prostitution when they desire chastity, in order that ye may make a gain in the goods of this life. But if anyone compels them, yet, after such compulsion, is Allah, Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful (to them)".
[edit] Views
[edit] Muslim view
Muslim refute those critics who alleged that this part of the rights and obligations of the Ma malakat aymanukum condone of rape during and after wartime, and continues to point out that Islam has much higher punishment for those who commit rate anyhow compared to the the laws of those who criticizes, ranging up to the death penalty. They conclude that "No doubt, the treatment given by the Islamic state in the past excelled the track record of other nations in this arena of treating prisoners of war." They also add that "established international conventions dictate how nations should treat prisoners of war. Such conventions have developed through the historical experience of the manner in which warring nations have reciprocated in treating prisoners of war. The Islamic state (Khilafah) can agree with other nations to abide by certain standards in treating prisoners of war. However, as the recent events have shown, those who scream loudest about international laws are the first to violate them, from Abu-Ghraib to Bagram to Camp-X-ray.." [2].
