Islam came while slaves existed in all areas of the world, and slavery was a system common in all areas of the world with all people and nations. It is not known of the existence of any area of the earth except that slaves were traded and free persons were enslaved. It is not related about the existence of any land without slavery. Islam viewed that this problem was related to two aspects.

Firstly, it was related to the slaves who had been enslaved in practice and those whose consideration had fallen from the upright consideration of others who were free and were considered as goods like other goods sold and bought and bargained over. So it was necessary to treat with a treatment resulting in freeing these slaves and making them free persons. As for the second aspect, it related to slavery. It is necessary to treat it with a treatment placing a limit on slavery. Hence there came ayaat and ahadith treating these two aspects with a beneficial treatment for mankind based upon the reality of mankind and the reality of the relationships existing between its individuals and nations.