As-salamu `alaykum Naz.

Thank you for your question.

The hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) should be read within its historical context. At the time when the message of Islam was sent to mankind, slavery was an established institution. It would not have been practically possible for the Prophet (peace be upon him) to end slavery in one night. What he did was to insist on certain moral values that people had to observe when dealing with their slaves, in addition to requiring certain rulings from every Muslim. Both of these measures aimed at gradually and eventually ending slavery.

The moral value that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) insisted on when dealing with the slavery issue was the value of equality of humankind. He said on many occasions that all people are equal, whether black or white, man or woman, slave or noble. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) further instructed, as narrated in various places in the authentic collections of Hadith, that masters should share with their slaves the same food, the same clothing, and even help them with their work. This attitude, by itself, put an end to the worst part of slavery, which was its stratifying and hierarchical view of human beings based on their social status.

Then, the Prophet (peace be upon him) made it the slave’s right to buy his or her freedom, and the community then had an obligation to help him or her. In fact, one of the venues of the required zakah (obligatory annual charity), according to the Qur’an is to free slaves. This meant that one of the obligations of an Islamic government was to buy slaves and free them. The Prophet also forbade selling female slaves who bore their master a child. The master could not sell them and both slave and child would become free after his death. Several Islamic rulings required freeing of slaves as an act of repentance from wrongdoing, such as if a Muslim violated the abstinence that accompanies fasting in Ramadan.

This concept of equality of all was quite a step in the history of humanity that Islam made at that time. Also, when the value of equality was materialized in society at that time, the slave-master relationship became a different relationship altogether.

It must be said, though, that the ideals of Islam faced a lot of resistance from supporters of the social status quo and from people who had financial and other material interests in the system of slavery. However, we ought to differentiate between religion (any religion) and its followers’ practices. Therefore, it took centuries until slavery disappeared from the Muslim world—and the non-Muslim world as well, by the way. This is not due to Islam, because as far as Islam is concerned, if the rulings had been followed and not violated by those in positions of power, slavery would have disappeared much earlier.

Going back to your question, given the above, the master-slave relationship had become sort of a contract for work, in which the slave was getting certain benefits based on his or her work for the master. Therefore, it was considered wrong for the slave to run away and not free him- or herself by compensating the master.

Having said that, I should make it clear that all of the above is history. I mean, slavery is NOT part of the Islamic system of life. Slavery was merely a social fact that preexisted Islam and which had to be eliminated in Islam’s usual gradual and wise manner.

Useful Links:

Human Rights in Islam

Slavery in Islam and the Bible

Status of Slave Women in Islam

Questions on Slavery