In my quest to understand Islam and the current topic of Slavery introduced by one of our illustrious members of Dar Islam, I have found the following from the Qur'an, which justifies slavery, and often mentions slaves.

In researching the topic I found this very interesting site Here with quotes from the Qur'an, Hadith and other Islamic writings on Slavery.

It was with great interest I read the postings on Islamic Slavery here, as the latest edition of "The Smithsonian" magazine contains an interesting article on present day Islamic slavery in Niger, Africia. Here It appears from this article that slavery in the Islamic world is not only a historical fact, but also still a stain on humanity in some parts of the world.