Editing Castration (section)

===Islam===
The [[Muslim conquest of Persia]] as well as later [[Arab–Byzantine wars|conquests in the Byzantine Empire]] and [[Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent|India]] brought them into contact with eunuchs. By the eighth century, the palaces of the caliphs were staffed with many eunuch slaves which sold at a premium. A regular trade in eunuchs developed with slaves being taken to locations in Spain or Africa to be castrated, as the practice of castration was forbidden for Muslims. Eunuchs were used as harem supervisors, as mediators or servile roles, but they could also rise to be trusted advisors or military commanders.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Roscoe |first1=Will |last2=Murray |first2=Stephen |year=1997 |title=Islamic Homosexualities: Culture, History, and Literature |publisher=NYU Press}}</ref>{{rp|75}}

In [[Islam]], castration is considered a sin and strictly forbidden, whether one performs it on oneself or on another.<ref>As Abdullah ibn Mas'ood said, "We were on a campaign with the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), and we had no women with us. We said: Why don't we get ourselves castrated? But he forbade us to do that."{{cite book |last1=Al-Bukhari |first1=Imam Muhammad |title=Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 7 |chapter=Book 62, Hadith 13 |url=https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5075|language=en}}</ref> In the [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|history of slavery in the Muslim]] world, a fair proportion of male slaves were imported as eunuch. Levy states that according to the Quran and Islamic traditions, such emasculation was objectionable. Some jurists such as [[Qadi Baydawi|al-Baydawi]] considered castration to be mutilation, stipulating laws to prevent it. However, in practice, emasculation was frequent.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Berger |first1=Morroe |last2=Levy |first2=Reuben |date=August 1957 |title=The Social Structure of Islam. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2089185 |journal=American Sociological Review |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=479 |doi=10.2307/2089185 |jstor=2089185 |issn=0003-1224}}</ref> In eighteenth-century Mecca, the majority of eunuchs were in the service of the mosques.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brunschvig |first=Robert |date=1962 |title=Metiers vils en Islam |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1595118 |journal=Studia Islamica |issue=16 |pages=41–60 |doi=10.2307/1595118 |jstor=1595118 |issn=0585-5292}}</ref>