Race and Slavery in the Middle East: An Historical Enquiry

by Bernard Lewis

  There is another point, of prime importance, which we cannot omit from this discussion.

  Every nation has a time when it prevails over its rivals. This becomes clear if you direct your imagination to Greece and to Alexander, who conquered and governed and reigned and led and ripped apart and joined together and prescribed and disposed and aroused and restrained and erased and recorded. And if you consider the story of Chrosroes Anushirvan,3 you will find precisely the same circumstance.... When Abu Muslim . . . was asked: Which people do you find the bravest? he replied: "All people are brave when their power is rising." He spoke truth, for every nation at the beginning of its felicity is worthier, bolder, braver, more glorious, more generous, more munificent, more eloquent, more articulate, more judicious, and more veracious: and this derives from something that is common to all nations ... and shows the abounding generosity of Almighty God to all His creatures.

  On Languages

  We have heard many languages (even if we did not understand them) of all nations, such as the languages of our friends the Persians, Indians, Turks, Khwarezmians. Slavs, Andalusians, and Zanj; and we have found nothing in these languages like the limpidity of Arabic.... This will he recognized by any healthy person who is free from passion or tribal bigotry and who is devoted to equity and to fairness... . Indeed, I would be astonished if any man of wide knowledge, sound mind, and extensive culture, would disagree with what I say.

  Reply to al-Jayhani

  I am greatly astonished by al-Jayh5ni,4 who in his hook abuses the Arabs and says that they eat jerboas and lizards and rats and snakes, denounce and attack each other, and excite and commit obscenities with each other, as if they had cast off the qualities of humanity and donned the hides of swine. That, he said, is why Chosroes used to call the king of the Arabs Saganshah,' that is to say, the king of the dogs. . . . He (al Jayhani) did not realize that if every Chosroes who was in Persia, and every Caesar who was in Rome . . . and every Khaqan who was among the Turks came into this desert and desolation and emptiness, they would not have acted otherwise, since he who is hungry eats what he finds and drinks what he can in order to survive. If Anushirvan had found himself in the deserts of the Banu Asad . . . the rocks of 1iba, the sands of Yabrin, or the wastes of Habir and if he were hungry and thirsty and naked, then would not he, too, eat jerboas and rats'? Would not he, too, drink camel's urine and well water? Would not he, too, wear rough and tattered garments'? ... To say such things is ignorance, to repeat them injustice, because the Arabs are the finest of mankind.

  Notes

  1. Ibn al-Mugaffa' (ca. 720-ca. 756), a Persian convert to Islam, an adviser to the caliphs. and one of the founders of classical Arabic prose literature.

  2. Reading hahd'im hdmila, as suggested by the editors of the text. The ms. reads ha'ila, "fearsome," which does not accord with bahima (pl. bahd'im), a term normally used of cattle or domestic animals.

  3. Chosroes Anushirvan (531-79 A.D.), a Sasanid emperor of Iran. Because of his celebrity, his name, in the Arabized form Kisra, was used in Islamic literature as the title of the sovereign of Persia, the equivalent of Caesar in Rome and Byzantium.

  4. Presumably one of a well-known family of viziers and scholars of that name, in the service of the Samanid princes who reigned in eastern Iran and Central Asia. See Eh suppl. s.v., Djayhani" (by C. Pellat).

  5. From the Persian sag, "dog." The epithet is a mocking parody of the Persian imperial title shahanshah, "king of kings."

  2. The Rights of the Slave (Late Eleventh to Early Twelfth Century)

  Know that the rights of ownership by marriage have already been treated above in the section on marriage. As for ownership by slavery, this too entails rights in social relations which must be respected. Among the final injunctions of the Prophet of God, may God bless and preserve him, he said: "Fear God concerning those whom you own [literally, 'those whom your right hands possess']. Feed them with what you eat and cover them with what you wear, and do not set them tasks which they cannot perform. Those whom you like, keep; and those whom you dislike, sell. Do not torment God's creatures. God made you their owner; and had He wished, He could have made them your owners."

  He also said, may God bless and save him: "The slave is entitled to his food and clothing, as is appropriate; and he should not be set tasks which he cannot perform."

  'Ahdallah, the son of 'Umar, may God he pleased with them both, said: "A man came to the Prophet of God and said: 'O Prophet of God, how many times shall we pardon a slave?' And the Prophet was silent, and then he said: 'Forgive him seventy times every day.'

  'Umar, may God be pleased with him, used to go to al-Awali every Saturday; and when he saw a slave with a task beyond his power, he would lighten his task. It is related on the authority of Abu Hurayra, may God be pleased with him, that he saw a man riding a steed and his slave running behind him; and he said to the man: "Slave of God, mount him behind you, for he is your brother and his soul is as your soul."

  ... A slave girl of Abu'l-Darda' said to him: "For a year I have been poisoning you, but nothing happens to you." He said: "Why do you do this'?" She said: "I want to be rid of you." He said: "Go, you are free for the sake of God."

  AI-Zuhri said: "If you say to a slave: 'May God punish you,' then he is free." Someone said to al-Ahnaf ibn Qays: "From whom did you learn magnanimity?" He said: "From Qays ibn 'Asim." It was said: "How far did his magnanimity reach?" He replied: "Once when he was sitting in his house a slavewoman came with a roast on a spit. The spit fell from her hand on his son, who was wounded and died. The slave girl was horrified, and he said: 'Nothing will calm this slave girl but manumission.' He therefore said to her: 'You are free, don't be afraid.' "

  `Awn ibn `Abdallah used to say, when his slave disobeyed him: "You are like your master. Your master disobeys his master, and you disobey your master." One day he made him angry, and he said: "What you want is to make me beat you. Go, you are free."

  Maymun ibn Mihran had a guest with him, and he told his slave girl to make haste in bringing dinner. She came hurrying. with a full dish; but she stumbled and emptied in on the head of her master Maymun. He said: "Slave girl! You have scalded me." She said: "You who teach what is good and punish people, return to what God said." "And what did God say?" he asked. She replied: "He said 'Those who hold hack their anger.' " He said: "I have held hack my anger." She said: "And those who forgive others." He said: "I have forgiven you." She said: "And more, for God also said: 'God loves those who do good' " (all from Qur'an XXX:128). He said: "You are free for the sake of God."

  Ibn al-Munkadir said: "A man who was one of the Companions of the Prophet of God struck a slave of his, and the slave began to cry out: 'I ask you for the sake of God, I ask you for the sake of God'; but he did not pardon him. The Prophet heard the cry of the slave and went to him; and when the man saw the Prophet of God, he withheld his hand. And the Prophet of God said: 'He asked you for the sake of God and you did not forgive him, but when you saw me you withheld your hand.' And the man said: 'He is free for the sake of God, 0 Prophet of God.' And the Prophet of God said: 'Had you not done this, hellfire would have scorched your face.' "

  The Prophet of God also said: "The slave who is loyal to his master and faithful in the service of God will have a double reward." When Abu Raft' was manumitted, he wept and said: "I used to have two rewards, and now one of them has gone."

  The Prophet of God said: "I was shown the first three to enter Paradise, and the first three to enter Hell. The first three in Paradise were the martyr [who falls in the holy war], the owned slave who is faithful in his service to God and loyal to his master, and the chaste and moral man with children. The first three to enter Hell are an oppressive ruler, a rich man who does not give God's share, and a pauper braggart."

  It is related on the authority of Abu Masud al-Ansan, who said: "I was beating one of my slaves when I heard a voice behind me saying: `Know this, 0 AN Mas`ud!' The voice said this twice. I turned around, and there was the
Prophet of God. I threw the whip from my hand, and he said: `By God, God has more power over you than you have over this man.' "

  The Prophet of God said: "If one of you buys a slave, the first food he gives him should be something sweet, for this will be the most soothing for him." This was related by Ma`adh.

  Abu Hurayra said that the Prophet of God said: "If one of you has his slave bring him food, he should seat him and let him eat with him, and if he does not do this, he should at least give him a mouthful." .. .

  A man came to see Salman, who was kneading dough; and the man said to him: "O Abu `Abdallah, what is this?" And Salman replied: "I sent my servant on some task, and I did not wish to double his work."

  The Prophet of God said: "If anyone has a slave girl and he respects her chastity and treats her well and then manumits her and marries her, then he has two rewards." He also said: "Every one of you is a shepherd and every one of you is responsible for his flock."

  In sum, the right of the slave is that his master should share his food and clothing with him, not give him tasks beyond his strength, not look upon him with the eye of arrogance and disdain, forgive him for his trespasses, and when he is angry with him for some lapse or offense, think of his own sins and offenses against Almighty God and his shortcomings in obedience to God, and remember that God's power is greater over him than his power over his slave.

  3. A Legal Ruling (Fifteenth Century)

  I have been asked about slaves who come from the land of Abyssinia and who profess monotheism and accept the rules of holy law; is it lawful or not to sell and buy them? If they are converted to Islam while subject to the ownership of their masters, have the masters the right to sell them or not? And if the Surma allows the sale of slaves, how is it that the profession of the monotheistic creed, which saves [an infidel prisoner] from death and from punishment in the other world, does not save from the humiliation and the suffering of slavery? Indeed, ownership is an enslavement and diminution of the individual ennobled by the faith. And what is the meaning of the saying of the doctors of the holy law: "Slavery is unbelief [kufr]"? Does this apply after one has become a believer?

  I reply: If it is proved that a slave was originally an unbeliever of one kind or another-unless he is of Quraysh-and if on the other hand it is not proved that he adopted Islam when he was in his own country and a free agent, then once his captors have laid hands on him after conquest and victory, it is lawful for them to sell or buy him, without hindrance. The profession of the monotheistic creed by these slaves does not prevent the continuance of their status as slaves, since slavery is a humiliation and a servitude caused by previous or current unbelief and having as its purpose to discourage unbelief. That is why the slave is deemed "absent" for himself but "present" for his master. When he is liberated, he acquires legal identity and becomes master of his own person. He is then able to own property, to be a judge or witness, or to hold public office.

  As to those who profess monotheism and observe the rules of holy law among the slaves arriving from Abyssinia and from other countries of unbelievers and of the House of War, their profession of monotheism does not hinder their sale and their purchase on the basis of their original unbelief and uncertainty, whether their conversion to Islam is previous or subsequent to the establishment of a right of ownership by their master. The doubt is about the hindrance, and doubt about hindrance is of no effect.

  Certainly, if it is known that a whole section or community of the inhabitants of a region have adopted Islam or been conquered by Islam, in such a case the way to avoid error would be to prohibit the possession of these slaves.

  But if conversion to Islam is subsequent to the establishment of a right of ownership [over the slaves], then Islam does not require freedom, because slavery has been caused by unbelief. This state of servitude continues after the cessation of the unbelief, because of its past existence and in order to discourage unbelief.

  4. Correspondence Concerning Slavery between Consul General Drummond Hay and the Sultan of Morocco (1842)

  Consul General Drummond Hay

  Slave Trade No. 2

  Four Inclosures

  Received Mar 30

  By Sea via Gibraltar

  Correspondence with the Moorish Government regarding the traffick in Slaves.

  Tangier 12th March 1842

  My Lord [Earl of Aberdeen],

  Having made application to the Sultan of Marocco, in pursuance of the directions in your Lordship's Circular of the 27th last December, marked Slave Trade No. 4, as mentioned in my Despatch of the 29th January, marked Slave Trade No. 1,-I received an Answer from the Potentate, of which-and my own letter to which it replies-I do myself the honor of presenting herewith the English Versions. llnclosure 1.]

  The Sultan's Answer being far from satisfactory, and His Majesty having distinctly asked for information on the subject of my communication,-whereon, as regarding other nations than his own, he appeared entirely ignorant,-I considered the occasion convenient for transmitting to this Potentate, (so soon as the sickness of our Interpreter permitted him to prepare the Arabic translation) a second Letter and this in considerable detail: that Translation was completed and despatched yesterday to the Sultan, who is now at Meknas,-and thereof also I beg leave to present herewith my English original. [Inclosure 2.]

  If much time had not elapsed since receipt of your Lordship's instructions, I would yet wait the Moorish Sultan's reply to my second Letter; but, as that may not arrive till after the departure of several mails, I am unwilling to lay any longer under the possible imputation of not having used my best efforts to forward the views of your Lordship,by endeavouring to obtain, as promptly as possible, the desired information regarding the Slave Trade in this country.

  Having addressed myself on the subject to Her Majesty's Vice Consuls at the outposts of Marocco, I have not collected from their replies a single fact worthy relation: the little that I have myself been able to obtain, through another channel, of matter illustrative in some degree of Laws and Regulations respecting Slavery and the Slave Trade in this country, is presented herewith to your Lordship in the original Arabic, with accurate Translations, (Inclosures Nos. 3 and 4).

  The mere circumstance of the Thaleb, from whom I obtained the documents in the Inclosure No. 3, having assured me, that his head would be endangered, if I made known to any one in this country that I had gotten from him such documents,-will show (though I believe he greatly exaggerated his pretended fear) how difficult it is to obtain authentic information in Marocco, on any subject. wherein an inquirer may be suspected of trenching on the religious prejudices of its most bigoted people.

  It will be agreeable for your Lordship to know, that the Slaves in this country are not numerous and, according to all my own observation and every report, are kindly treated by their masters, who-at their decease-frequently emancipate their Slaves.

  During nearly thirteen years of residence in Marocco, I do not remember a single instance of Slaves having been exported from this country; and the last case of the kind, of which I have information, occurred about twenty four years ago,-when five hundred Black men were purchased by the late Algerine Consul Hadj Abd-al-crim Ben-Thaleb for the Dey of Algiers. to which place they were sent by sea and were formed-as I am told-into a Body-guard of the Dey.

  I have the honor to be,

  with the highest respect,

  My Lord,

  Your Lordship's most obedient

  very humble Servant

  E. W. A. Drummond Hay

  Letters to and from the Sultan of Marocco

  [Inclosure No. 1, in Despatch marked Slave Trade No. 2 of 12th Mar. 1842 from Cons. Gen. Drummond Hay to the Earl of Aberdeen, etc.]

  To His Imperial Majesty Mulai Abd Errachman Ben Heesham,' Sultan of Marocco, etc. Her Britannic Majesty's Agent and Consul General Drummond Haywith profound respect.

  In consequence of instructions from the principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the Queen my Gracious S
overeign, I do myself the high honor of requesting Your Imperial Majesty to be pleased to cause me to be informed, if any Laws or any administrative Acts have emanated from your Majesty or your Majesty's Royal Predecessors, or from any Governors of Districts or from any Municipal Officers under the Imperial authority,-for the purpose of regulating, restraining or preventing the traffic in Slaves; and, if there have been any such Acts or Laws promulgated, I am to beg of Your Majesty to be pleased to direct that, I be furnished with authenticated copies of all such documents, whether they may have been of a temporary or of a permanent character.

  I would add, in exemplification of this application to your Imperial Majesty that it is desirable that your Majesty may be pleased to cause me to be instructed, if there be any Law or Regulation in any part of Your Majesty's Dominions, whereby the traffic in Slaves-if not wholly prohibited-is in any degree moderated or kept within certain bounds; as for example, if there be prohibition against any merchant purchasing man, woman or child of any colour whatsoever, for exportation as Slaves, and if they can or cannot be legally exported from out Your Majesty's dominions by land or Sea.

  Dated at Tangier the 22nd of January in the year of Jesus Christ the Messiah 1842

  (signed) E. W. A. Drummond Hay

  Translation of the Sultan's Answer to the foregoing letter.

  N. B. Although this letter, (which appears a production of great haste) is addressed on the face of it to "The Consul of the French, " it was on the Envelope addressed to "The Consul of the English"