are harmful, and he mentioned among them “the vicious dog.” (1)
His statement, “except for sexual intercourse”: it may not be lent for use. That is, if a person came to another who had a female slave and said, “Lend me sexual access to your female slave for five days,” this would not be permissible, because it is forbidden. In other words, he would be lending her to him so that he might commit fornication with her! This is prohibited beyond question and falls under Allah’s saying: “And do not cooperate in sin and transgression” [al-Mā’idah 5:2]. For sexual relations may lawfully be enjoyed only by a husband or a master, as Allah says:
“And those who guard their private parts, except from their wives or those whom their right hands possess, for then they are free from blame. But whoever seeks beyond that—then it is they who are the transgressors.” [al-Mu’minūn 23:5–7]
His statement, “or a Muslim slave to a disbeliever”: it is not permissible to lend a Muslim slave to a disbeliever, because this entails degrading the Muslim, and degrading a Muslim is a degradation of his religion. Therefore, it is not permissible to lend a Muslim slave to a disbeliever.
The apparent meaning of the author’s words is that this applies even if the disbeliever will not employ him directly. For example, he might say, “Lend me your slave so that I may place him in such-and-such office of my company.” Here, the disbeliever would not be employing this Muslim directly. Should we then say that this is permissible, since the reason for prohibiting the lending of a Muslim to a disbeliever is the fear that he will be humiliated, and that reason no longer applies if he says, “There is no one in such-and-such office; lend me your slave to remain in the office until the absent person returns,” or, “Lend me your slave to remain as a guard over this office”? The apparent generality of the author’s words