The claim: "The Qur'an regulates slavery, it does not abolish it. The word of God should have banned it outright; so these verses are human-made / morally flawed."
What the Qur'an does
The Qur'an does not abolish slavery, but it strongly pushes toward freedom:
- It makes freeing a slave the highest virtue (the "steep path"): "(It is) to free a slave." (90:13)
- It makes it an expiation: for manslaughter (4:92), oaths, ẓihār (58:3) — the price of sin is freeing a slave.
- It commands the contract of self-manumission (mukātaba) and that wealth be given for it (24:33).
- It defines true righteousness partly by giving "for freeing necks" (2:177).
- For prisoners of war it makes release, by grace or ransom, the default (47:4).
An honest limit
We do not overstate this: the Qur'an did not ban slavery outright in a single verse — that is a fact, and a fair part of the objection. What it did was draw a gradual trajectory toward freedom, narrowing the sources and turning manumission into worship and virtue. Answers to "why not abolish at once?" (gradual reform, social reality) are interpretations; we lay out both the fact and the trajectory as they are.
Source: Qur'anic verses (M. Okuyan meal). Presented soberly and respectfully, with a text/interpretation distinction.