to expose (LL.). Ḥijz al-farj therefore signifies not only refraining from actual sexual intercourse but also refraining from exposing certain parts of the body which it is indecent to expose. But a certain degree of freedom in this latter sense is allowed, to both men and women, in the presence of their slaves who had to wait upon them on all occasions. Ideas of decency may differ, so much so that there are people in all civilized countries who think that it is not indecent to be nude in the presence of others; on the other hand, they take pride in remaining naked even in public and sometimes try to take out processions of naked people, both men and women. Such practices are revolting to Islamic ideas of decency. But even if, for the sake of argument, the inference drawn from these words, to wit, that Muslims are allowed to have concubines, were accepted as true, that inference loses all its value when it is borne in mind that the two chapters in which this expression occurs are early Makkah revelations, when Islām had not yet introduced its reforms, and that the permission, if ever there was any, to keep concubines was taken away by the reforms introduced at Madīnah, when a clear injunction was given that all female slaves should be kept in a married state. If the female slave must be married, the master certainly has no right to sexual enjoyment with her.
It must be further borne in mind that neither the Holy Qur’ān nor the Ḥadīth anywhere speaks of the right of the master to have sexual intercourse with a slave. In other words, ownership is nowhere recognized as legalizing sexual relationship. The only thing that legalizes sexual intercourse is a contract, duly witnessed, between the two parties to undertake the responsibilities accruing from that contract, with a dowry settled upon the woman, and thus marriage, whether with a free person or a slave, is the only means of legalizing sexual connection.
Evidently, then, the master could have sexual connection with his female slave under the rules laid down in the Holy Qur’ān, relating to the marriage of a free man with a slave girl: “And whoever among you cannot afford to marry free believing women, (let him marry) such of your believing maidens as your right hands possess. And Allāh knows best your faith: you are (sprung) the one from the other.