According to search-discovered classical and contemporary Islamic scholarship, Islam engaged with the deeply-entrenched, universal institution of slavery in the 7th century not to endorse it, but to initiate a radical, gradual process of abolition from within. Classical jurists like Al-Qurtubi explain that the Quran's legal framework severely restricted the sources of enslavement, primarily to legitimate captives of war, while abolishing the widespread pre-Islamic practices of kidnapping and debt-slavery. Thematic analysis across verses like 4:36 and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad establish a new standard of humane treatment, recognizing the spiritual and moral equality of the enslaved. Furthermore, as explained by tafsir scholars like Ibn Kathir, the Quran created numerous, strongly encouraged pathways to freedom, making manumission a primary means of atoning for sins (4:92, 5:89) and a paramount act of piety (90:13). The institution of 'mukataba' (24:33) established a contractual right for a slave to purchase their own freedom. Contemporary scholarly consensus is that this clear abolitionist trajectory in the Quran and Sunnah, combined with the absence of its legitimate historical causes today, renders the practice of slavery impermissible in the modern world, as it contradicts the higher objectives (Maqasid) of Islamic law, namely justice, freedom, and human dignity.