SLAVERY IN THE WORLD OF ISLAM - BOOK REVIEW Ta_Seti@yahoogroups.com Elie B.

Smith Bio Book review: Slavery within the Islamic world -- the forbidden truth (L' esclava ge en Terre d'Islam: un tabou bien gard) June 02, 2008 07:16 AM By Elie Smith A recent book written by Malek Chebal has come to shed more light not only on th e Arab slave trade, but also on slavery in the greater Islamic world. Mr Chebal is an anthropologist and perhaps France's best specialist on Islam. He has writt en more than 20 books on different aspects and topics of Islam and the Islamic s ociety in her diversity. The title of his 496 page book, which is divided into t hree parts is: Slavery within the Islamic world: the forbidden truth (my own En glish translation) and in French: L' esclavage en Terre d'Islam: un tabou bien g ard. The title of part one is: Doctrine and it sub title is: what does Islam say concerning slavery? The author answers that: slavery within the Islamic world p redates Islam and he adds that: slavery is an antique practice not only practice d by Muslims, but also by other ancient civilizations such as the Romans, Greece and the Israelites. But the author asks these questions: did Islam as a religion, which started in t he 7th century really wanted to eradicate slavery in her bastion in the Arabian peninsular? Or did it simply wanted to give slavery a humane or acceptable face? Sub title 2 of part one is in titled: words to describe/ how slaves and slavery are identify in the Islamic world. And here, the author tells us that, the Islamic word has a very rich vocabulary for slaves and slavery and he adds that, all those names or terminologies are st ratagems employed either to hide what they are doing or to give slavery a humane or acceptable face. Some of those terminologies to identify slaves in the Islam ic world are: abd (slave), ubudiyya (slavery), mi'bada (place where God is worsh ipped), ma'bud (specifically used to identify black slaves), muta'abbad (a despo t/tyrant who considers himself as God) and Ghulam (name used to identify male sl aves in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and in Indonesia). But in the ancient Arabian pe ninsular and in ancient Iraq, the author tells us that, slaves were designated a ccording to their colours. It explains why, black slaves in the region were called Zandj or Aswad. For the author writes that, Zandj was a contraction of the Arabic appellation of the Eas t African Indian Ocean Island of Zanzibar which in Arabic is called Zanjibar. Su b title three is in titled: 14 centuries and a half. And what does that really m ean? You may have asked. Here, the author writes that, in order to understand th e history of enslaving others in the past and at present within the Islamic worl d, it is important to make a thorough examination of the obscure past of the Isl amic religion. And he adds that, to understand or begin to understand slavery persist within th e Islamic world, it is also primordial to investigate all the moments of crisis that predates Islam, that has affected her regions of origin and also numerous c risis that Islam has undergone. He also tells us that, if it is truth that slave ry is as old as humanity, then, there is no doubt that, the source of slavery ca n only be trace within the Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greece triangle. In other word s, even though slavery is a vice shared by the entire human race, those who hold the copyright of slave trade are the latter mentioned countries. Sub title four

is in titled: Black & White. This part brings to the fore a reality within the Islamic world that is known but never officially admitted or accepted by Muslims . And the author writes that, racial divide within Islam is appalling. But why is it not denounced? The author has an answer. He writes that, one reaso n why Muslims seldom denounced their internal racism is because; it would be tan tamount to opening a can of worms. And he continues that, Islam recommends to all those practicing the faith to desist from any acts of discriminations by p ointing that, prophet Mohammed instructed his followers that, there shouldn't be any act of discrimination between for example an Arab against a Berber. But the author writes that, in reality the recommendation of the Prophet Mohamed is sel dom respected. The author points out that, in Islam, black Muslims or black slaves are perpetua lly discriminated by Arabs. Why? Simply because, Arabs have always had a condesc ending regard toward blacks, a notion or practice that, the advent of the Islami c faith has not changed but perpetuated. The author concludes. Sub title five is in titled: Pure & impure slaves. And the author tells us here that, Islam permi ts or allows the categorizations of slaves and she also instigates frontal oppos ition between slaves and their masters. How? The author write that, the Islamic holy book the Koran , supports discriminative model, by recommending to Muslims who are masters, that, a slave who converts to Islam is worth than a free woman who is not a slave, even if the free woman appeals to the believer or the maste r. An example of a pure slave mentioned by the author was Bilal Al-Hibachi (lite rally, the Abyssinian or the Ethiopian who died in 641 BCE). Bilal Al-Hibachi was the first slave set free by the father-in-law of Prophet Mo hammed. As concerns those considered as impure slaves, the author writes that, t here are many and varied in Islam. One set of impure slaves are those who while in slavery, have refused to convert to the religion of their masters (Islam). Th e next category of impure slaves in Islam, the author points out, are the millio ns of Asian labourers, who are working in Islamic lands such as Dubai and Saudi Arabia. Sub title six is in titled: ethnic group versus religion and the author tells us here again that, while Islam has racist practices, another dimension in the div isions that exist in the faith are that of the ethnic origin of her members. He continues: there is a deep divide in Islam, between Arabs or precisely Bedouins Arabs from the Middle East and other groups such as the Persians and the Turks, from the same region. Between these three ethnic groups, who are all vying for t he position of leadership within the faith, those who consider themselves as the rightful leaders of the Islamic religion are the Bedouin Arabs. Why? The author writes that, Bedouins are supremacist. Their legends are laden with claims of t heir noble status and he adds that, it is this quest for noble status within the Islamic faith, which makes many to claim to be descendants of Prophet Mohammed, who was from an ancient noble Bedouin family. Sub title 7 is in title those wit hout names. The author tells us that, one characteristic of slaves was that, they had no nam e or their names were ignored. Hence, the prevalence of generic names for slaves or people of slave ancestry within the Islamic world and the author also write that, the generic terms used by Arabs to identify a slave or those with slave li nage are: abd or abid. And within slaves, those who were educated were/are eithe r called riqq or raqiq, mawla (teacher) and Malik (the possessed). Another impo rtant sub title of part one, is that which focuses on another category of slaves common within the Islamic world: Eunuchs. The author tells us here that, within the Islamic world and elsewhere, where sla very was or is still practiced, slaves are classified according to their colours and geographic origins. But another sinister aspect with Islamic slavery he add

s: is /was her appetite for Eunuchs who were or are a special brand of slaves. A nd the author stressed that, most eunuchs were blacks from Sudan, Nubia, and occ asionally from Ethiopia and other parts of the horn of Africa. The author also w rites that, while the horn of Africa was a factory for the production of eunuchs , the only region or country in the region that was spared was Somalia. And he a dds that, while slavery caused the death of many East Africans, the demand for e unuchs increased their mortality, because during the castration period, many sla ves selected for the hideous process lost their lives via bleeding. The other in teresting subject handled in part one of the book are the slave routes. And the author points out that, the Arab slave trade had three main routes. The first was along the East African coast: Zanzibar via Djibouti, Egypt and the fin al destination was Mesopotamia. Slaves from this route were sold in Jordan, Pale stine, Syria, and Anatolia and in India. The second route to source slaves was s outhern Libya and Chad. ===