The Kafala System as One of the First Instruments of Slavery and Ignorance in Islamic Views

Abstract

This article aims to discuss the problems of kafala in dealing with labor. In Islam, the kafala serves a noble purpose: it ensures that less well-off people are financially secure in the face of legal issues. This article discusses the shift in the value of kafala in the Middle East because there has been a gap between kafala in Islamic Sharia and its practice in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and the Arab Emirates. This study used a qualitative descriptive analysis approach based on a literature study supported by personal experience and found that the kafala existing in modern times was not the same as the kafala intended by Islam because it originated from different sources. The concept of kafala has devolved into modern slavery. The kafala was abolished amid much controversy, and little has changed. Thousands of migrant domestic workers are exploited and subjected to horrendous working conditions that, at worst, amount to modern slavery. The law does not protect female workers, and the government has no intention to change the current system. We find that kafala, which initially had a noble purpose, has turned into a device for exploiting workers against a background of abundant natural resources.