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Is it permissible for a man in Islam to have intercourse with his non-Kitābī female slave, given that the narrations permitting intercourse with a female slave after the completion of her iddah do not stipulate religion, and what is the extent of the preponderant view prohibiting that?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

"Enjoying (sexual relations with) a non-Scriptural disbelieving female slave is a matter of scholarly disagreement. Some scholars prohibited it, while others permitted it. Sheikh Ibn Uthaymeen favored permissibility, basing his argument on the words of Allah Almighty: (except with their wives or those whom their right hands possess). He held that this includes both Scriptural and non-Scriptural female slaves, and that whoever excludes a type of female slave from this generality must provide evidence. This is also what Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah chose. Ibn Uthaymeen also mentioned that the alleged consensus on the impermissibility of having sexual intercourse with a non-Scriptural female slave is incorrect."

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

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