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Islamic Views On Slavery
Islamic views on slavery represent a complex and multifaceted body of Islamic thought, with various Islamic groups or thinkers espousing views on the matter which have been radically different throughout history. Slavery was a mainstay of life in pre-Islamic Arabia and surrounding lands. The Qur’an and the hadith (sayings of Muhammad) address slavery extensively, assuming its existence as part of society but viewing it as an exceptional condition and restricting its scope. Early Islamic dogma forbade enslavement of free members of Islamic society, including non-Muslims (dhimmis), and set out to regulate and improve the conditions of human bondage. Islamic law regarded as legal slaves only those non-Muslims who were imprisoned or bought beyond the borders of Islamic rule, or the sons and daughters of slaves already in captivity. In later classical Islamic law, the topic of slavery is covered at great length. Slaves, be they Muslim or those of any other religion, were equal to their fellow practitioners in religious issues.
Slavery in Islamic law is not based on race or ethnicity. However, while there was no legal distinction between white European and black African slaves, in some Muslim societies they were employed in different roles: for example, in the Ottoman Empire white slaves served as soldiers and government officials, while black slaves served as eunuchs in the palace and the harems of elite families. Slaves played various social and economic roles, from domestic worker to highest-ranking positions in the government. They created some great empires in history including the Ghaznavid Empire, Khwarazmian Empire, Delhi Sultanate, Mamluk pashas of Iraq and Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and Levant. Moreover, slaves were widely employed in irrigation, mining, pastoralism, and the army. Some rulers even relied on military and administrative slaves to such a degree that they were considered above from the general public and sometimes they seized power.
In some cases, the treatment of slaves was so harsh that it led to uprisings, such as the Zanj Rebellion. However, this was an exception rather than the norm, as the vast majority of labor[quantify] in the medieval Islamic world consisted of paid labour by free persons. For a variety of reasons, internal growth of the slave population was not enough to fulfill the demand in Muslim society. This resulted in massive importation, which involved enormous suffering and loss of life from the capture and transportation of slaves from non-Muslim lands. Bernard Lewis maintains that though slaves often suffered on the way before reaching their destination, they received good treatment and some degree of acceptance as members of their owners’ households.
The Muslim slave trade was most active in west Asia, eastern Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. Muslim traders exported as many as 17 million slaves to the coast of the Indian Ocean, the Middle East, and North Africa. Abolitionist movements began to grow during the 19th century, prompted by both Muslim reformers and diplomatic pressure from Britain. The first Muslim country to prohibit slavery was Tunisia, in 1846. During the 19th and early 20th centuries all large Muslim countries, whether independent or under colonial rule, banned the slave trade and/or slavery. The Dutch East Indies abolished slavery in 1860, while British India abolished slavery in 1862. The Ottoman Empire banned the African slave trade in 1857 and the Circassian slave trade in 1908, while Egypt abolished slavery in 1895, Afghanistan in 1921 and Persia in 1929. In some Muslim countries in the Arabian peninsula and Africa, slavery was abolished in the second half of the 20th century: 1962 in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, Oman in 1970, Mauritania in 1981. However, slavery has been documented in recent years, despite its illegality, in Muslim-majority countries in Africa including Chad, Mauritania, Niger, Mali, and Sudan.
Qur’an
The alms are only for the poor and the needy, and those who collect them, and those whose hearts are to be reconciled, and to free the slaves and the debtors, and for the cause of Allah, and (for) the wayfarer; a duty imposed by Allah. Allah is Knower, Wise.
The Qur’an contains a number of verses aimed at regulating slavery and mitigating its negative impact. It calls for the manumission (freeing) of slaves. It prescribes kindness towards slaves. Slaves are considered morally equal to free persons, however, they have a lower legal standing. All Qur’anic rules on slaves are emancipatory in that they improve the rights of slaves compared to what was already practiced in the 7th century. Many Muslims have interpreted Qur’an as gradually phasing out slavery.
The Qur’an calls for the freeing of slaves, either the owner manumitting the slave, or a third party purchasing and freeing the slave. The freeing of slaves is encouraged is an act of benevolence, and expiation of sins. Qur’an 24:33 devises a manumission contract in which slaves buy their freedom in installments. Two other verses encourage believers to help slaves pay for such contracts. According to Maurice Middleberg, “Sura 90 in the Qur’an states that the righteous path involves ‘the freeing of slaves.'” One of the uses of zakat, a pillar of Islam, is to pay for the freeing of slaves.
The Qur’an prescribes kind treatment of slaves. Qur’an 4:36 calls for good treatment to slaves. The Qur’an recognizes the humanity of slaves, by calling them “believers,” recognizing their desire to be free, and recognizing female slaves’ aversion to prostitution. Several verses list slaves as members of the household, sometimes alongside wives, children and other relatives.
The Qur’an recognizes slaves as morally and spiritually equal to free people. God promises an eternal life in the Hereafter. This equality is indicated in Qur’an 4:25, which addresses free people and slaves as “the one of you is as the other” (ba’dukum min ba’din). Qur’an 39:95 refers to master and slave with the same word. However, slaves are not accorded the same legal standing as the free. Slaves are considered as minors for whom the owner is responsible. The punishment for crimes committed by slaves is half the punishment as to be meted out on free persons. The legal distinction between slaves and the free is regarded as the divinely established order of things, which is seen as part of God’s grace.
The Qur’an recognizes slavery as a source of injustice, as it places the freeing of slaves on the same level as feeding the poor. Nevertheless, the Qur’an doesn’t abolish slavery. One reason given is that slavery was a major part of the 7th century socioeconomic system, and it abolishing it would not have been practical. Most interpretations of the Qur’an agree that the Qur’an envisions an ideal society as one in which slavery no longer exists.
Slaves are mentioned in at least twenty-nine verses of the Qur’an, most of these are Medinan and refer to the legal status of slaves. The legal material on slavery in the Qur’an is largely restricted to their liberation and sexual relations. The Qur’an permits owners to take slaves as concubines, though it promotes abstinence as the better choice. It strictly prohibits slave prostitution. According to Sikainga, the Qur’anic references to slavery as mainly contain “broad and general propositions of an ethical nature rather than specific legal formulations.” The word ‘abd’ (slave) is rarely used, being more commonly replaced by some periphrasis such as ma malakat aymanukum (“that which your right hands own”). However the meaning and translation of this term has been disputed. Ghulam Ahmed Pervez argued that the term is used in the past-tense in the Qur’an, thus signalling only those individuals who were already enslaved at the dawn of Islam. This slight change in tense is significant, as it allowed Parwez to argue that slavery was never compatible with the commandments of the Qur’an and is in fact outlawed by Qur’anic Law.
There are many common features between the institution of slavery in the Qur’an and that of neighboring cultures. However, the Qur’anic institution had some unique new features. Bernard Lewis states that the Qur’anic legislation brought two major changes to ancient slavery which were to have far-reaching effects: presumption of freedom, and the ban on the enslavement of free persons except in strictly defined circumstances.
According to Brockopp, the idea of using alms for the manumission of slaves appears to be unique to the Qur’an, assuming the traditional interpretation of verses [Qur’an 2:177] and [Qur’an 9:60]. Similarly, the practice of freeing slaves in atonement for certain sins appears to be introduced by the Qur’an (but compare Exodus 21:26-7). The forced prostitution of female slaves, a long practiced custom in the Near Eastern, is condemned in the Qur’an. Murray Gordon notes that this ban is “of no small significance.” Brockopp writes: “Other cultures limit a master’s right to harm a slave but few exhort masters to treat their slaves kindly, and the placement of slaves in the same category as other weak members of society who deserve protection is unknown outside the Qur’an. The unique contribution of the Qur’an, then, is to be found in its emphasis on the place of slaves in society and society’s responsibility toward the slave, perhaps the most progressive legislation on slavery in its time.”
East Africa’s forgotten slave trade
Over several centuries countless East Africans were sold as slaves by Muslim Arabs to the Middle East and other places via the Sahara desert and Indian Ocean. Experts say it is time for this to be discussed more openly.
The island of Zanzibar is today considered one of East Africa’s best destinations: white sandy beaches, crystal clear waters and hotels offer tourists from all over the world a holiday to remember.
Long forgotten is the dark past that overshadowed this sunny paradise 200 years ago. The archipelago, which today is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, was then regarded as the center of the East African slave trade.
In addition to valuable raw materials such as ivory and the coveted cloves, one thing stood out above all others in the colorful markets: hundreds of slaves.
From Eastern Europe to North Africa
The sale of African slaves can be traced back to antiquity. It became popular in the seventh century when Islam was gaining strength in North Africa. This was seven centuries before Europeans explored the continent and ten centuries before West Africans were sold across the Atlantic to America.
Back then, Arab Muslims in North and East Africa sold captured Africans to the Middle East. There, they worked as field workers, teachers or harem guards, which is why the castration of male slaves was common practice. Muslims, on the other hand, including African Muslims, were not allowed to be enslaved, according to Islamic legal views.
“Initially, the Arab Muslims in Eastern and Central Europe took white slaves to sell them to Arabia,” Senegalese author Tidiane N’Diaye told DW in an interview. “But the growing military power of Europe put an end to Islamic expansion and now that there was a shortage of slaves, Arab Muslims were looking massively to black Africa.”
Roots of slavery in Africa
According to N’Diaye, slavery has existed in practically all civilizations. This was also the case in Africa before settlers came.
In central East Africa, ethnic groups such as the Yao, Makua and Marava were fighting against each other and entire peoples within the continent traded with people they had captured through wars. “Thus Arab Muslims encountered already existing structures, which facilitated the purchase of slaves for their purposes.”
For Abdulazizi Lodhi, Emeritus Professor of Swahili and African Linguistics at the University of Uppsala in Sweden, slavery was part of different African cultures “When it came to exports, tribal Africans themselves were the main actors. In many African societies there were no prisons, so people who were captured were sold.”
Zanzibar as East Africa’s slave hub
The slave trade in East Africa really took off from the 17th century. More and more merchants from Oman settled in Zanzibar. The island took on an even more important role in the international trade of goods due to the large trade at the Swahili coast and consequently also in the slave trade. This is how the largest slave market in East Africa was created.
Only estimates, some of which vary widely, exist as to how many Africans were sold from East to North Africa. This is also due to the fact that many of the slaves perished. Scientific research concludes that about three out of four slaves died before they reached the market where they were to be sold. The causes were hunger, illness or exhaustion after long journeys.
Author N’Diaye estimates that 17 million East Africans were sold into slavery: “Most people still have the so-called Transatlantic [slave] trade by Europeans into the New World in mind. But in reality the Arab-Muslim slavery was much greater,” N’diaye said.
“Eight million Africans were brought from East Africa via the Trans-Saharan route to Morocco or Egypt. A further nine million were deported to regions on the Red Sea or the Indian Ocean.”
‘The spice of slavery’
Historian Lodhi disagrees with N’Diaye’s figure. “17 million? How is that possible if the total population of Africa at that time might not even have been 40 million? These statistics did not exist back then.”
Old reports were also methodically doubtful. For example, David Livingston, a Scottish missionary and explorer, estimated that 50,000 slaves were being sold annually in the markets of Zanzibar. “Even today, the number of people living in Zanzibar is not close to 50,000. The numbers have neither hand nor foot,” Lodhi said.
Not all slaves were taken to Egypt or Saudi Arabia. From 1820, Omani settlers began cultivating cloves in Zanzibar to meet the growing demand on the world market. Large plantations quickly developed and slaves could be bought cheaply at the nearby slave market.
From q839 to 1860, the quantity of exported cloves increased from 565 (1246 pounds) to 12,600 kilograms, according to American historian Frederick Cooper. Zanzibar’s reputation changed from being the center of the slave trade to a center of slave keeping which produced notorious figures such as the legendary slave trader Tippu-Tip.
The end of slavery?
At the end of August 1791, a slave revolt began in today’s Haiti and the Dominican Republic. These two uprisings significantly promoted the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, slavery and colonialism in Africa.
However, it was not until 1873 that Sultan Seyyid Barghash of Zanzibar, under pressure from Great Britain, signed a treaty that made the slave trade in his territories illegal. That decree was not enforced effectively either. It was not until 1909 that slavery was finally abolished in East Africa.
According to author N’Diaye, slavery still exists, albeit in a different form. It is estimated that nearly 40 million people worldwide still live in slavery. In Africa there are hundreds of thousands. “In Mauritania they say they have abolished slavery, but in reality the situation in North Africa has not changed much. Young people are enslaved against their will, forced to work and sexually exploited.”
There have been reports from Libya about organized slave markets and a few years ago, a case of slavery was uncovered in Tanzania, according to Lodhi. “A mine was found in a remote area where 50 to 60 boys were forced to work. They were not paid and lived in a camp guarded by armed men.”
The effects of slavery in East Africa are not as severe as the economic consequences of Western colonization of Africa, says N’Diaye. “The economy of many of these countries is still dominated by the West; it’s a topic being discussed by many intellectuals. But N’Diaye says that what happened in East Africa over the centuries should also be openly discussed.
“Most of the African authors have not yet published a book on the Arab-Muslim slave trade out of religious solidarity. There are 500 million Muslims in Africa, and it is better to blame the West than talk about the past crimes of Arab Muslims.”
Islamic Views On Slavery
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https://discerning-Islam.org
Last Updated: 03/2022
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