Abstract:

To be slave is to be owned as property. It is an automatic way of stratifying human as chattel to be exploited and disposed of at will. The practice of slavery cuts across cultures, nationalities and dogmas. It is of different dimensions – classical and modern, sociological, economic and political. Major sources of slavery are wars and conflicts but, other sources are ignorance, poverty and re-enactment of natural selection mechanism – Darwinian evolutionary theory? Local, national and international legal regimes had declared slavery illegal. However, human trafficking and forced labour had continued overtly and covertly. This work takes a sojourn into the dark history of slavery. It also examines slavery from the perspectives of religion and particularly Islam. Also examined is the upsurge of slave trade and human trafficking in Libya that caught the entire world in awe and consternation. It was an aftermath of the demise of Muhammar Gaddafi and break out of civil war in the African Libya. This unfortunate development is contextualized within the framework of a narrative for a proactive response to a barbaric development at this age of human civilization and radical and dynamic world information order.