The reason I ask this question is because of the context given below:
1. Being recognized as free woman in order to not get molested
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ قُل لِّأَزْوَاجِكَ وَبَنَاتِكَ وَنِسَاءِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِن جَلَابِيبِهِنَّ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ أَدْنَىٰ أَن يُعْرَفْنَ فَلَا يُؤْذَيْنَ ۗ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا
O Prophet! Tell thy wives and daughters, and the believing women, that they should cast their outer garments over their persons (when abroad): that is most convenient, that they should be known (as such) and not molested. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful
-- Surat Ahzab, verse 59
In the tafsirs, its mentioned that the words an yo'rafna means: That they would be known to be free women, and not slave women.
So the conclusion of the following verse would be; if its known that they are free woman, they should not get abused.
This is from the tafsir Ibn Al Kathir:
كان ناس من فساق أهل المدينة يخرجون بالليل حين يختلظ الظلام إلى طرق المدينة يتعرضون للنساء، وكانت مساكن أهل المدينة ضيقة، فإذا كان الليل، خرج النساء إلى الطرق يقضين حاجتهن، فكان أولئك الفساق يبتغون ذلك منهن، فإذا رأوا المرأة عليها جلباب، قالوا: هذه حرة، فكفوا عنها، وإذا رأوا المرأة ليس عليها جلباب، قالوا: هذه أمة، فوثبوا عليها، وقال مجاهد: يتجلببن فيعلم أنهن حرائر، فلا يتعرض لهن فاسق بأذى ولا ريبة.
When they saw a woman which wasn't wearing jilbab (hijab/niqab), they said; "this is a slave", then they jumped on her.
(only translated the bold sentence)
And from Tafsir Tabarsi:
{ ذلك أدنى أن يعرفن فلا يؤذين }
أي ذلك أقرب إلى أن يعرفن بزيّهن أنهنَّ حرائر ولسن بإماء فلا يؤذيهن أهل الريبة فإنهم كانوا يمازحون الإِماء وربما كان يتجاوز المنافقون إلى ممازحة الحرائر فإذا قيل لهم في ذلك قالوا حسبناهنَّ إماء
And the hypocrites maybe used to go beyond teasing the free women, and when they were criticized about their behavior towards the women, they would say: "we thought they were slaves".
2. ForcingForcing slaves to prostitution
It is also mentioned in this hadith;
To my questionsquestion
- Was slave prostitution allowed?
- If it was allowed, who was the "customers"?
- Was it okay to abuse slave women (in the streets or such)? Would you get away with abusing slave women? (see above in section 1, Being recognized as free woman in order to not get molested)
Please answer the questions one by one and try to explain as good as possible.
If the answer to the question 3 is "no", then please explain why it would be of any importance to dress up (with hijab/niqab) in order to get recognized as a free woman and not a slave and by so not getting abused/molested. I.e if it wasn't okay to abuse a slave woman and if you wouldn't get away with it, why is it so important to distinguish between the two?