Freeing Captives: Fir-Riqab & Modern Liberation
The fifth category of zakat — fir-riqab — was revealed to free enslaved persons. Today, with 49.6 million people in modern slavery, this category addresses human trafficking, bonded labor, and forced servitude with the same Quranic mandate.
In this article
Key Facts about Fir-Riqab
- Fir-riqab (في الرقاب) is the fifth of eight zakat categories in Quran 9:60. The word riqab is the plural of raqabah (رقبة), literally meaning 'neck' — a classical metonym for an enslaved person.
- Historically this category covered two uses: purchasing the freedom of enslaved Muslims outright, and paying off the freedom contracts (mukatabah) of slaves who had arranged their own manumission.
- The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates 49.6 million people live in modern slavery globally as of 2021, providing an unmistakable context for this category.
- 27.6 million people are in forced labor worldwide — the contemporary equivalent of the bondage this category was designed to address.
- Scholars including Yusuf al-Qaradawi and contemporary fatwa bodies extend this category to cover victims of human trafficking, debt bondage, and forced labor in the modern era.
- Some scholars include unjustly imprisoned individuals and those held for ransom under this category, particularly in conflict zones.
- Zakat given under this category may fund anti-trafficking organizations, victim rehabilitation programs, legal aid for enslaved persons, and ransom payments for unjust captivity.
Definition & Etymology
Core Definition
The phrase fī al-riqāb (في الرقاب) uses the preposition fī (in/for) with riqāb, the plural of raqabah (رقبة) — literally “neck.” In classical Arabic, “neck” was a metonym for an enslaved person because the neck was where slave collars were worn. The category therefore means: “for the liberation of those in bondage.”
This is the fifth of the eight zakat categories enumerated in Quran 9:60. The use of fī (in/for) rather than the direct accusative used for the poor and needy has been noted by classical scholars as significant — suggesting the funds are deployed toward a purpose (liberation), not simply transferred to a recipient. This grammatical nuance supports the view that money may be paid to a slave owner, a trafficker's intermediary, or a debt bondage creditor — whoever holds the person in bondage — to secure their freedom.
“Zakat expenditures are only for the poor and for the needy and for those employed to collect [zakat] and for bringing hearts together [for Islam] and for freeing captives [fī al-riqāb] and for those in debt and for the cause of Allah and for the stranded traveler — an obligation [imposed] by Allah. And Allah is Knowing and Wise.”
— Surah at-Tawbah 9:60
Historical Context
In 7th-century Arabia, slavery was a pervasive social institution. Islam's approach was gradualist: rather than immediately abolishing slavery by decree (which would have been unenforceable), it systematically undermined slavery through incentives for manumission, making freeing enslaved persons one of the highest acts of worship, and allocating an entire category of zakat to fund liberation.
Classical jurists identified two primary applications of this category:
Direct Purchase of Freedom
Zakat funds were used to purchase enslaved Muslims directly from their owners and grant them freedom. The fuqaha debated whether non-Muslim enslaved persons could also be freed — the Hanbali school permitted it; others restricted it to Muslims.
Mukatab (Freedom Contract) Support
A mukatab was a slave who had negotiated a contract with their owner: pay an agreed sum and receive freedom. Zakat from this category could be paid to a mukatab to help them fulfill their freedom contract — a mechanism of self-determined liberation supported by community funds.
The Mukatab: Self-Liberation Through Contract
The institution of mukatabah (freedom by contract) was one of the most sophisticated mechanisms in classical Islamic jurisprudence for dismantling slavery. A slave could approach their owner and negotiate a written contract specifying an agreed price for their freedom, to be paid in instalments. Once the contract was executed, the slave (now called a mukatab) was entitled to receive zakat from this category to help fund their instalments. The Quran explicitly commands masters to accept such contracts if the slave desires them (Quran 24:33). The zakat category thus functioned not merely as charitable rescue from outside, but as financial infrastructure supporting an enslaved person's own active pursuit of freedom. This combination of individual agency and community financial support represents a distinctively Islamic approach to the problem of bondage.
Ransoming Prisoners: A Third Classical Application
Beyond outright purchase and mukatab support, classical scholars — particularly those of the Maliki and Hanbali schools — included a third application: paying ransom to free Muslims taken captive in war or held by hostile parties. The Maliki school explicitly names this in al-Mudawwana, and Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal's rulings confirm it. The logic is straightforward: the deprivation of freedom through captivity is functionally equivalent to enslavement, and the zakat category addresses the principle — liberation from unjust bondage — rather than only its chattel-slavery form.
“And they give food in spite of love for it to the needy, the orphan, and the captive.”
— Surah al-Insan 76:8
Surah al-Insan 76:8 names “the captive” (al-asir) alongside the needy and the orphan as paradigmatic recipients of charity, reinforcing that concern for those held in bondage is a core Quranic value woven throughout revelation — not confined to a single verse in Surah at-Tawbah. This verse was revealed in Mecca, before the formal zakat institution was established, suggesting that feeding and aiding captives was an ethical imperative even before it was codified as law.
The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) also encouraged the freeing of enslaved persons as expiation (kaffarah) for numerous sins — breaking oaths, involuntary manslaughter, zihar (a form of unlawful divorce). This embedded liberation into the fabric of Islamic penitential practice alongside the dedicated zakat category, making freedom one of the most multiply-reinforced values in the Shariah.
Modern Interpretation
While chattel slavery has been formally abolished in all jurisdictions, the underlying condition it represented — human beings deprived of freedom by force, coercion, or deception — persists at a massive scale. The ILO's 2021 Global Estimates of Modern Slavery document 49.6 million people in modern slavery, of whom 27.6 million are in forced labor and 22 million in forced marriage.
Forms of Modern Bondage Qualifying Under Fir-Riqab
Human Trafficking
The recruitment, transport, or receipt of persons through force, fraud, or coercion for exploitation. The UN estimates approximately 25 million trafficking victims at any one time. Anti-trafficking rescue and rehabilitation are direct applications of this zakat category.
Debt Bondage
The most prevalent form of modern slavery: a person's labor is demanded as repayment for a debt that never meaningfully decreases. Common in agriculture, domestic work, and construction in South and Southeast Asia. Zakat may pay off the debt to free the person.
Forced Labor
Work extracted under threat of violence, document confiscation, or other coercion. Affects 27.6 million people globally. Paying legal fees, providing refuge, or funding escape are all applicable uses.
Unjust Imprisonment
Classical scholars (particularly Maliki and Hanbali) included prisoners held without just cause. Contemporary applications include political prisoners, those held without trial, and those where ransom is the only realistic means of release.
Human Trafficking: A Global Crisis
49.6M
People in modern slavery globally (ILO 2021 Global Estimates)
27.6M
In forced labor, including state-imposed forced labor
12M
Children in forced labor situations worldwide
Human trafficking is not a remote or historical problem: the ILO estimates that forced labor generates $236 billion in illegal profits annually, making it one of the most profitable criminal industries in the world. Muslim-majority countries are both origin and destination countries for trafficking — Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Indonesia all appear in the Global Slavery Index's highest-risk nations.
The ILO's 2021 Global Estimates of Modern Slavery, produced in partnership with the ILO, Walk Free, and the International Organization for Migration, provide the most authoritative data on this crisis. Of the 49.6 million total: 27.6 million are in forced labor (including 17.3 million in private sector industries such as agriculture, manufacturing, and domestic work, 6.3 million in commercial sexual exploitation, and 3.9 million in state-imposed forced labor); and 22 million are in forced marriages — a form of bondage that strips individuals of freedom over their own lives. Children account for approximately 12 million of the total, making this a significant child rights crisis as well as an adult one.
The ILO also estimates that forced labor generates $236 billion in illegal profits annually, making it one of the most profitable criminal industries in the world, behind only drug trafficking. This economic reality explains why trafficking networks are deeply entrenched and well-resourced — and why counter-trafficking work is expensive, difficult, and in persistent need of sustainable funding. Zakat, as a reliable annual institutional mechanism for fundraising within Muslim communities, represents one of the few funding streams that is structurally tied to religious obligation rather than discretionary giving.
The Quranic mandate of fir-riqab speaks directly to this reality. Organizations working to rescue trafficking victims, provide legal representation to bonded laborers, run safe houses for escaped domestic workers, and fund the repatriation of trafficked persons are all engaged in the precise work this zakat category was established to fund.
How Zakat Organizations Are Beginning to Address Modern Slavery
The fir-riqab category is among the least-utilised of the eight, largely because awareness of its modern applicability has lagged behind the scale of the problem. However, a growing number of Islamic organisations are now explicitly designating anti-trafficking work under this category:
- •Islamic Relief runs programmes in multiple countries addressing trafficking, bonded labour, and refugee exploitation — with dedicated fir-riqab designations in their zakat allocation frameworks.
- •Penny Appeal has funded safe houses and rehabilitation centres for trafficking survivors in Bangladesh and Pakistan.
- •Zakat Foundation of America includes anti-trafficking and prisoner support explicitly under its riqab programme category.
- •LaunchGood campaigns specifically targeting bonded labour release in South Asia have used fir-riqab framing to attract Muslim donors.
- •Emerging advocacy from the OIC and ISNA encouraging zakat bodies to allocate a specific percentage of their fir-riqab share to ILO-verified anti-trafficking partners.
“The riqab category in our time primarily applies to those held in modern forms of slavery: trafficked persons, those in debt bondage, and those unjustly imprisoned. The spirit and purpose of the category is liberation from human bondage, and that need has not diminished — it has transformed.”
— Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Fiqh az-Zakat, vol. 2
Scholarly Views on Modern Application
There is broad scholarly consensus that this category remains active and extends to modern forms of bondage. The key debate is about the scope — how broadly to extend the concept of “riqab” beyond chattel slavery.
Strong Extension: Trafficking & Bondage
Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the OIC Fiqh Academy, and most contemporary scholars clearly extend this to human trafficking and debt bondage. The rationale: these are functional equivalents of historical slavery — persons deprived of freedom through coercion, regardless of the legal label attached.
Ransom for Captives
Maliki and Hanbali classical scholars included ransom payments for unjustly held prisoners. Contemporary scholars apply this to conflict zones, kidnapping victims, and political prisoners. The condition is that the captivity is unjust and ransom is the most realistic path to freedom.
Narrower View: Only Formal Bondage
A minority of contemporary scholars hold that with formal slavery abolished, this category has no operative application and zakat intended for liberation should be redirected to other categories like al-fuqara or fi sabil Allah. This view has limited scholarly support.
Rehabilitation Costs
Many contemporary scholars extend coverage to include post-liberation support — rehabilitation programs for trafficking survivors, mental health services, vocational training — on the grounds that true liberation requires restoration of full human dignity, not merely physical release.
The Grammatical Case for Spending on Liberation, Not Just People
One of the most important and often-overlooked observations about the fir-riqab category is grammatical. In Quran 9:60, the first two categories (al-fuqara and al-masakin) and the last two (al-gharimin and ibn al-sabil) use direct accusative constructions — the funds go directly to people. The fir-riqab category uses the preposition fī (in/for), indicating that funds are deployed toward a purpose — liberation — rather than merely transferred to a recipient. This grammatical nuance has profound practical implications: it means the zakat money from this category may legitimately go to a slave owner as a purchase price, to a trafficker's intermediary as ransom, to a debt bondage creditor to extinguish a debt, or to a legal service provider securing a bonded labourer's release in court. The focus is the outcome (freedom), not the identity of who receives the funds.
To understand how this category fits within the full framework of zakat distribution, see our Eight Zakat Categories Explained guide. Use our Zakat Calculator to calculate your annual zakat obligation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Rashid Al-Mansoori
Verified ExpertIslamic Finance Specialist & Shariah Advisor
Dubai-based Islamic finance specialist with 15+ years in Shariah-compliant banking, investment structuring, and financial advisory across the GCC. Certified by AAOIFI and CISI. Founded Islamic Finance Calculator to make Islamic finance education accessible to everyone.
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