Order Michael Finch’s new book, A Time to Stand: HERE. Prof. Jason Hill calls it “an aesthetic and political tour de force.”
Slavery is condoned in Islam. Muhammad himself bought, sold, and owned slaves. And Muhammad was the Perfect Man (al-insan al-kamil) and Model of Conduct (uswa hasana) so that his own practice made slavery licit for all the Muslims who follow his example. There never was a Muslim William Wilberforce. The Arab trade in black Africans began in the first century of Islam, centuries earlier than the Atlantic slave trade of the Europeans. The Royal Navy stamped out the Arab slave trade in Africa. Slavery in Muslim countries continued after the trade itself was banned, and finally ended, under Western pressure, very late. Slavery was banned in Saudi Arabia 1962; in Yemen it was banned in stages between 1962 and 1967. In Oman, it was banned in 1970.
Today, the Arabs still enslave black Africans in Mali, Mauritania, and Niger. A slave market has opened in Tripoli, Libya, where black Africans who arrive in an attempt to make it to Europe by boat, but run out of money and are unable to pay the smugglers, are then sold into slavery.
And there have been over the years cases of Gulf Arabs — mainly Saudi and Kuwaiti families — who, when visiting in the U.K., bring with them their house slaves, keeping them imprisoned in their houses, where they endure savage mistreatment. Every so often one of these domestic slaves escapes, tells her pitiful story to the press, there is a flurry of indignation, and then… silence. The British government does not wish to offend the very rich Arabs with second homes in the U.K., whose presence contributes so much to the economy.
So it is not strange that a Muslim councillor in the U.K., Sohail Asghar, would have decided to enslave someone, almost certainly a non-Muslim, and exploit her in his home, where she endures long hours and little pay. More on this latest case of modern slavery can be found here: “Green Party Councillor Sohail Asghar Reportedly Arrested on Suspicion of Modern Slavery,” by Kurt Zindulka, Breitbart, December 20, 2025:
A Green Party councillor has reportedly been arrested in Lancashire on suspicion of modern slavery and assault offences.
Former taxi driver turned Green Party councillor Sohail Asghar, 29, has been suspended from the leftist party amid a modern slavery probe, the Lancashire Telegraph reported.
The Accrington West and Oswaldtwistle Central councillor will now sit as an independent on the council.
Ashgar, who is also a member of the Progressive Lancashire Group which sits in opposition to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK on the Lancashire county council, was reportedly arrested earlier this month in Accrington.
The Lancashire Police confirmed that they had arrested a 29-year-old on suspicion of “on suspicion of slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour and common assault.”
Two other arrests were made at the same property in Accrington on November 6th, the force said.
“A 51-year-old woman from Accrington has also been arrested on suspicion of slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour, and a 55-year-old man from Accrington has been arrested on suspicion of slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour and making threats to kill,” the police statement said….
Were this couple Asghar’s parents? Or people who worked at his house in Accrington and were in day-to-day charge of overseeing the slave, whose identity has not yet been revealed? It’s clear the charge against Sohail Asghar is serious, with evidence to back it up, otherwise the Green Party would not, even before a trial, have expelled him from the party. Now let British justice take its course, providing the unidentified “slave” a platform on which she can disclose in full how this Muslim slave driver must have treated her. If Asghar is convicted of “modern slavery” and the related charges, he will go to prison. If his “slave” chooses in addition to bring civil charges against him, Asghar will almost certainly be forced to pay that person a considerable sum. And his days as a Labour councillor are over. With his political career in ruins, Sohail Ashgar can try to return to his previous job as a taxi driver — if, that is, the cab company he worked for will have him back. And I suspect it won’t.
