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Does Verse 25 of Surat An-Nisa indicate that it is better to abstain from marrying a slave woman to avoid the enslavement of the child, and does this apply to having intercourse with a slave woman without marriage?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Verse 25 of Surah An-Nisa indicates that it is preferable for a man not to marry a slave woman unless four conditions are met: her faith and chastity, his inability to marry a free woman, and his fear of falling into hardship (fornication). Even with these conditions, patience regarding marrying them is better, due to the potential for his children to become enslaved, and the debasement and defect it may entail, unless patience would lead to falling into the forbidden. As for a master having intercourse with his slave woman and her bearing his child, there is no prohibition in that, for the child will be free and no dislike results from it. Many verses have been revealed permitting intercourse with those whom one's right hand possesses, such as the Almighty’s saying: "And those who guard their private parts, Except from their wives or those whom their right hands possess, for indeed, they are not to be blamed. But whoever seeks beyond that, then those are the transgressors." (Al-Mu’minun/5-7).

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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