The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery commemorates the United Nations’ 1949 ratification of the Convention for the Suppression of Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others and aims to shed light on contemporary forms of slavery. Recent books from authors Muḥammad Ibrāhīm Abdāḥ and Wahba al-Zuḥaylī have shed light on the attitudes of religions towards slavery throughout the years, indicating that several Prophets were in fact slave owners and that whilst Islam feared the socio-economic turmoil that would result from the abolition of slavery, it appreciated the inherent value of human freedom. In Christianity, slavery was never explicitly prohibited by Jesus or his disciples and was often explained as being a form of atonement for the sin of man.