Unfortunately, as with all threads about Islam (thread made into Muslim hate threads which were not originally intended so), it attracts dogs to scream whatever nonsense they came come up with to defame and demean Muslims. Sources are not necessary, it is simply based on rhetoric. This vile hatred of others is indeed the fall of human civilization and proves some people have no right to consider themselves as enlightened above others.
Seeing as the vast majority of the members of this forum are white Westerners, obviously they have a problem with their peoples' crimes in the past. The common answer to this is to deflect blame. I have even heard from a white Westerner that they are offended because they are a descendant of a slave. What kind of nonsense is being furthered in this thread?
For the record, slavery is haram, unlawful in Islam. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) mandated every Muslim not only to free his own slaves, but to earn money to free slaves held by non-Muslims as a tenet of their faith. In Islam, there is only paid servitude, which is a matter of choice for the servant, and this is allowed so that these people can make an income. Their lives, property, children, or any other family are not owned by anyone except God. Islam teaches us that no man is a slave to another man, but all are slaves to God, therefore slavery cannot be practiced according to the Quran and sunnah. I don't want to hear any more of this nonsense unless it is backed by evidence from the Quran and hadith, along with tafsir.
As far as my people engaging in slavery, that is an outright lie. Though I am from the Middle East/ West Asia, my people never engaged in slavery of anyone. It is true the Arabs engaged in slavery before Islam arrived, but after Islam there was a wholesale reformation and enlightenment in the Arab world which changed the hearts of man. As far as Africans, yes they did engage in capturing of war captives, but this was low-scale tribal wars which resulted in very few casualties and were launched to preserve family honor. Most of the captives taken were enemy soldiers, not innocent civilians as was the case with the slave trade carried on by the white Europeans.
It is unfortunate however that some of our African brothers fell prey to the predations of European colonial powers by capturing enemy villages to enslave them to exchange them for guns and ammunition. It came to such a time, the European colonial powers only accepted slaves for payment to give guns and ammunition to warring factions, thus playing both sides of the conflicts (look at the parallel to Iran-Iraq war). If we look at it even today, the gun market for African guerrilla groups is still largely facilitated by Westerners. Africa is the most unstable continent in the world today, and the pouring of guns is not helping the situation. Unfortunately, it is not like the world community, dominated by Europe and her offspring, really care.
Slavery as practiced by the white European settlers of the new world is the worse crime in human history. It was not only physical slavery, but mental, spiritual, and moral slavery. Slaves were forbidden to read or write, they were forced to work without any pay, their children were born in slavery, they were forbidden to do anything seen as "African" or "Islamic", and their wives and daughters were daily exploited by white men.
This is the single most vile and inhumane crime in human history. To deny this is worse than denying Holocaust, it should be a crime. And yet the Western nations have not given reparations or any economic aid to the countries and people they exploited. The white American may have 'forgotten' slavery, but the black Americans and other minorities will never forget this, and we shouldn't either. Lest we forget, African American history begins in slavery, because their previous heritage was taken from them.
Anyway, let's get back to the original topic of this thread.