Writings on slavery
In a 2017 article, Brown stated that "the term 'slavery' is so ambiguous as to be functionally useless for the purposes of discussing extreme domination and exploitation across history", especially in the context of Islamic history. Brown wrote that the current understanding of "slavery" is defined primarily in terms of legal ownership and violations of autonomy. According to Brown, this understanding does not accurately reflect the way slavery was practiced in many times and places in the Islamic world. For example, some enslaved Ottoman officials held authority over free people, while some forms of extreme exploitation happened to legally free persons. Brown writes that while slavery's evil "is so morally clear and so widely acknowledged", and that it is the "Hitler of human practices", he also wishes to challenge the current understanding of slavery.
A lecture presenting this article, and in particular comments Brown made during the Q&A session, sparked criticism from a number of commentators, some of whom accused Brown of supporting slavery and rape. In addition, some liberal scholars of Islam criticized Brown for relativizing the concepts of slavery, human autonomy, and consent, and took issue with his suggestion that Muslims cannot view all historical forms of slavery to be immoral since the Islamic prophet Muhammad had owned slaves.
In response, Brown wrote on Twitter, "Islam as a faith and I as a person condemn slavery, rape and concubinage." In a subsequent essay and interview Brown elaborated his views and apologized for having addressed the subject too cerebrally, adding that members of the alt-right had bombarded him and his family with threats of death and rape over the controversy.
