In
Islamic law the topic of slavery is covered at great length. The Quran (the holy book) and the
hadith (the sayings of Muhammad) see slavery as an exceptional condition that can be entered into under certain limited circumstances. Only children of slaves or non-Muslim prisoners of war could become slaves, never a freeborn Muslim.They also consider
manumission of a slave to be one of many meritorious deeds available for the expiation of sins.According to Sharia, slaves are considered human beings and possessed some rights on the basis of their humanity. In addition, a Muslim slave is equal to a Muslim freeman in religious issues and superior to the free
non-Muslim.