Race and Slavery in the Middle East: An Historical Enquiry (32 page)

24. Said al-Andalusi, Tahagat al-Umam, ed. L. Cheikho (Beirut, 1912), p. 9: idem. (Cairo, n.d.), pp. 11-12; trans. (into French) R. Blachcre (Paris, 1935), pp. 3738. Similar statements about the northern and southern peoples are to be found in
earlier authors, notably Mas`udi.

25. For a critical survey of this literature, see Hans Muller, Die Kunst des
Sklavenkaufs each arabischen, persischen and tiirkischen Ratgebern vom 10, his Zion
18. Jahrhundert (Freiburg, 1980). For brief examples in English, see Kai-Ka'us ihn
Iskandar, Qabtisnama, ed. R. Levy, F. J. W. Gibb Memorial series, n.s., vol. IS
(London, 1951), pp. 62-67; English translation by R. Levy. A Mirror for Princes
(London, 1951), pp. 99-108; Nasir al-Din Tusi, Akhlciq-i Nasiri; English translation by
G. M. Wickens, The Nasirean Ethics (London, 1964), p. 184. The first of these dates
from 1082 A.D.; the second from 1235 A.D.

26. On Ibn Butlan, see Muller, Kunst des Sklavenkaufs, pp. 45-80: and translated
excerpts in Lewis, Islam, vol. 2, pp. 243-51.

27. Kinalizade Alaettin Ali celebi, Ahldk-i A16ive, vol. 2 (Bulaq, 1248/1832-33),
pp. 52-65 (cf. Muller, Kunst der Slavenkaufs, pp. 181-87); Gelibolulu Mustafa Ali,
Kunh al-Ahhar, vol. 5 (Istanbul, 1869) pp. 9-14; idem, Meva'iddii'n-NeJ'a'is fi kavaidi7-
tnecalis (Istanbul, 1956), pp. 152-53; Bernard Lewis, The Muslim Discovery of Europe,
rev. ed. (New York, 1988), pp. 154-55; Alan Fisher, "Chattel slavery in the Ottoman
Empire," Slavery and Abolition 1 (1980), pp. 40-41.

Chapter 7

1. See Bernard Lewis, The Muslim Discovery of Europe, rev. ed. (New York,
1988).

2. See Andre Miquel, La Geographic hurnaine du monde nutsulman jusqu'au
milieu du 11" siecle, vol. 2, Geographic arabe et representation du monde: La terre et
l'etranger (Paris, 1975), pp. 127-202 ("L'Afrique noire"): Tadeusz Lewicki, Arabic
External Sources for the History of Africa to the South of the Sahara (London, 1974);
Yusuf Fadl Hasan, The Arabs and the Sudan, from the Seventh to the Early Sixteenth
Century (Edinburgh, 1967); Osman Sid Ahmad Isma'il al-Be'ily, " 'Al-Sudan' and
'Bilad al-Sudan' in early and medieval Arabic writing," Bulletin of the Cairo
University-Khartoum 2 (1972); Giovanni Vantini, "Greek and Arab geographers on
Nubia (ca. 550 B.C.-1500 A.D.)," in Graeco-Arahica: First International Congress on
Greek and Arabic Studies, ed. V. Christides and M. Papathomopoulos, vol. 3 (Athens,
1984), pp. 21-50. Kizobo O'Bweng. "Les Negro-Africains dans les relations Araho-
Byzantines (Vc-XI)," in Graeco-Arahica, vol. 3, pp. 85-94. Selected translations in
Bernard Lewis. Islam from the Prophet Muhammad to the Capture of Constantinople,
vol. 2, Religion and Society (New York, 1974). pp. 106-20. The best-known Arabic
sources on medieval black Africa have been conveniently collected by two Russian
scholars, L. E. Kubbel and V. V. Matveev, and reedited with Russian translation and
notes: Arabskive istoeniki VIII-X vekov po etnografii i istorii Afriki vuzneve Sakhari
(Moscow-Leningrad, 1960); V. V. Matveev and L. E. Kubbel, Arabskive istou`niki XXII vekov po et ografii i istorii Afriki yuzneye Sakhari (Moscow-Leningrad. 1965)hereafter Kubbel and Matveev, Arabskive istoeniki (1960). and Matveev and Kubbel,
Arabskive i.stoeniki (1965). For an English translation of these and other sources, see
N. Levtzion and J. F. P. Hopkins, eds., Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West
African History, trans. J. F. P. Hopkins (Cambridge, 1981). For translations into
French, see Joseph M. Cuoq, Recueil des sources arahes concernam l'Afrique occiden-
tale du VIII' au XVI' siecle (Bilad al-Sudan) (Paris, 1975). On East Africa, see M. Devic, Les Pays des Zendjs ... d'apres les ecrivains arabes (Paris, 1883); F. Storbeck,
"Die Berichte der arabischen Geographen des Mittelalters Ober Ostafrika," Mit-
teilungen des Seminars fur Orientalische Sprachen zu Berlin 17, no. 2 (1914), pp. 97169; in general, John Wansbrough, "Africa and the Arab geographers," in Languages
and History in Africa, ed. D. Dalby (London, 1970), pp. 89-101.

3. According to a story related by two tenth-century Arab geographers, in almost
identical language, "in the outer reaches of the land of the Zanj there are cool highlands in which live white Zanj" (Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Istakhri, Kitab
Masalik al-Mamalik, ed. M. J. de Goeje [Leiden, 1870], p. 36: lbn Hawgal. Kitab
Surat al-Ard, ed. J. H. Kramers, vol. 1 [Leiden, 1938-39], p. 59).

4. Ya`qubi, Kitab al-Buldan, ed. M. J. de Goeje, 2d ed., Bibliothecageographorum
arabicorum, vol. 7 (Leiden, 1892), p. 345: French translation by G. Wiet. Les Pays
(Cairo, 1937), p. 205; Kubbel and Matveev, Arah.skive istocniki (1960), p. 43; Levtzion
and Hopkins, Corpus, pp. 302-3.

5. Maqdisi, Kitab al-Bad' wa'l-ta'rikh, ed. and trans. (into French) Clement
Huart (Paris, 1903), text 4, pp. 69-70, trans. p. 65; Matveev and Kubbel. Arabskiye
istoeniki (1965), p. 14.

6. Idrisi, Opus geographicum, ed. A. Bombaci, U. Rizzitano, R. Rubinacci, and
L. Veccia Vaglieri, vol. 1 (Naples and Rome, 1970). pp. 61, 18. The earlier edition of
the passage on the Zanj, by Youssouf Kamal, Monumenta Cartographica Africae et
Aegypti, vol. 3, pt. 4 (Leiden, 1934), p. 831 (Matveev and Kubbel, Arabskive istocniki
[ 1965], p. 258) is defective. The passage on Takrur occurs in Idrisi, al-Maghrib wa-ard
al-Sudan, ed. and trans. R. Dozy and M. J. de Goeje (Leiden, 1964), p. 4 (Matveev
and Kubbel, Arabskiye isto(niki [1965], p. 236). The reference to dates is paralleled in
an Arabic proverb: "Blacks are caught with dates." Freytag, 1/2, pl. 651, n. 176. An
external confirmation of this practice is provided by a twelfth-century Chinese author.
who, apparently speaking of the people of an East African island, observes that "their
bodies are black as lacquer and they have frizzled hair. They are enticed by (offers of)
food and then captured and sold as slaves to the Arabic countries, where they fetch a
very high price. . . . thousands of them are sold as foreign slaves" (Chou Ch'u-fei,
cited in J. J. L. Duyvendak, China's Discovery of Africa [London. 1949], pp. 22-23).

7. Ihn Battuta, Voyages (Tuhfat al-nuzzar), ed. and trans. C. Defremery and B.
R. Sanguinetti, vol. 4 (1854; reprint, Paris. 1969), pp. 441-45; English translation in
Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa, 1325-1354, trans. H. A. R. Gibb (London,
1929), pp. 336-37.

8. Ibn Khurradadhbih. Al-Masdlik iva'l-momdlik, ed. M. J. de Goeje, Bibliotheca
geographorum arabicorum, vol. 6 (Leiden, 1889), pp. 60-61, 170; Kubbel and
Matveev, Arahskiye istocniki (1960), pp. 32-33.

9. Ibn Qutayba, Al-Ma`arif ed. Tharwat 'Ukasha, 2d ed. (Cairo, 1969), p. 26
(Kubbel and Matveev, Arabskiye istoeniki [1960]. p. 21); Ibn Qutayba. `UvOn al-
Akhht-ir, ed. Ahmad Zaki al-'Adwi, vol. 2 (Cairo, 1343-49/1925-30). p. 67. On the
tiling of the teeth by African slaves in the eighteenth century, see W. G. Browne,
Travels in Africa, Egypt, and Syria from the Year 1792 to 1798, 2d ed. (London, 1806),
p. 396.

10. Mas`Odi, Muruj al-dhahah, ed. Charles Pellat (Beirut, 1965-), vol. 1, p. 91;
translated by Charles Pellat, Les Prairies d'or, vol. 1 (Paris. 1962). p. 69.

11. Maqdisi, Kitah al-Bad', vol. 4, pp. 69-70.

12. Hudud al-Alain, ed. M. Sotoodeh (Tehran, 1340/1962). pp. 195-200: English
translation by V. Minorskv (London, 1937), pp. 163-66.

13. See above, pp. 32ff.

14. Tusi. Tasawwurat, ed. W. Ivanow (Leiden, 1950), pp. 52-53; cf. Ivanow's
translation, pp. 57-58.

15. In the translation of F. Rosenthal, Ibn Khaldun, The Mugaddimah, vol. 1
(New York, 1958), p. 301 (hereafter simply Rosenthal). For another English translation, see C. Issawi, An Arab Philosophy of History (London, 1950), p. 98. The original
of this passage may be found in Ibn Khaldun, Mugaddima, ed. Etienne Quatremere,
vol. 1 (Paris, 1858), p. 269; ibid. (Beirut, 1901), p. 148; ibid., ed. Nasr al-HUrini
(Bulaq, 1274/1857), pp. 124-25 (hereafter simply Quatremere. Beirut, and Bulaq).
French translations by M. de Slane, Les Prolegomenes d7bn Khaldoun, vol. 1, (1862;
reprint, Paris, 1934), p. 309 (`II est vrai que la plupart des negres s'habituent fac-
ilement a la servitude; mais cette disposition resulte, ainsi que nous l'avons dit ailleurs.
d'une inferiorite d'organisation qui les rapproche des animaux bruts"); and by Vincent
Monteil, Discours sur l'histoire universelle (AI-Mugaddima), vol. 1 (Beirut, 1967), p.
294 ("C'est ainsi que les nations negres sont. en general, soumises a l'esclavage, parce
que les Noirs sont une humanite inferieure (nags al-insaniyya), plus proche des
animaux stupides"). For parallel passages see Rosenthal, vol. 1, pp. 118ff., 168ff. In
another passage in his Muqaddima (Quatremere, vol. 1, pp. 95-96: Rosenthal. vol. 1,
pp. 118-19; Levtzion and Hopkins, Corpus, pp. 319-20), Ibn Khaldun, after describing the known peoples of black West Africa, observes that "beyond them to the south
there is no civilization in the proper sense. There are only humans who are closer to
dumb animals than to rational beings. They live in thickets and caves, and eat herbs
and unprepared grain. They frequently eat each other. They cannot be considered
human beings" (Rosenthal, vol. 1, pp. 118-19). In his historical work, the Kitdb al-
7bar (Cairo, 1867), vol. 5, pp. 433ff. (translation in Levtzion and Hopkins. Corpus,
pp. 322ff.), Ibn Khaldun gives a lengthy account of the West African peoples and
kingdoms. In another passage, Ibn Khaldun makes a more general observation about
the inhabitants of the zones that are "far from temperate." Speaking of the blacks, he
says: "Their foodstuffs are durra and herbs, their clothing is the leaves of trees, which
they sew together to cover themselves, or animal skins. Most of them go naked. The
fruits and seasonings of their countries are strange and inclined to be intemperate. In
their business dealings, they do not use the two noble metals, but copper, iron, or
skins, upon which they set a value for the purpose of business dealings. Their qualities
of character, moreover, are close to those of dumb animals. It has even been reported
that most of the Negroes of the first zone dwell in caves and thickets, eat herbs, live in
savage isolation, and do not congregate, and eat each other. The same applies to the
Slavs" (Quatremere, vol. 1, pp. 149-50; Rosenthal, vol. 1, p. 168); Issawi. Arab
Philosophy of History, p. 44.

16. For an edited, translated, and annotated example of late medieval Egyptian
scholarship on black Africa, see Dierk Lange, "Un Texte de Maqrizi sur 'les races des
Sudan,' " Annales Islamologiques 15 (1979), pp. 187-209.

17. AI-Qalgashandi, Suhh al-A'shd, vol. 8 (Cairo, 1313-19/1895-1901), pp. 11617. A full translation may he found in Levtzion and Hopkins, Corpus, pp. 347ff.

Chapter 8

1. 'Abd al-Wahhab al-Sha'rani (Kitab Kashf al-Ghur ma, vol. 2 [Cairo 1370/
1950], p. 216), rejects the idea outright. On the enslavement of Arabs, see Ibn
Hisham, Kitab al-Sira, ed. F. Wustenfeld, vol. 2 (Gottingen, 1859), pp. 877ff.: English translation by A. Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad (Oxford, 1955), pp. 592ff.;
Majid Khadduri, War and Peace in the Law of Islam (Baltimore, 1955), pp. 130-32.
For a description, ascribed to 'Umar, of the Bedouin as "the root of the Arabs and the
stuff of Islam," see Abu Yusuf, Kitab al-Kharaj (Bulaq, 1302/1885), p. 8; English
translation by A. Ben Shemesh, Taxation in Islam, vol. 3 (London, 1969), p. 47. On
Arab privileges, see above, pp. 37ff. and 86ff.

2. Aristotle, Politics 1254b20, 1255alff., 1255a8, 1278b23.

3. Joel L. Kraemer, "The Jihad of the Falasifa," Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and
Islam 10 (1987), p. 313, where further sources are cited.

4. Al-Farabi, Fusul Muntazaa, ed. F. M. Najjar (Beirut, 1971), pp. 76-77.

5. Abu]-Hasan Muhammad al-'Amiri (d. 992), Al-Sa'ada wa'l-Is ad, ed. Mojtaba
Minovi (Wiesbaden, 1957-58), p. 188, cf. p. 363. On Muslim use of Aristotle's Politics,
see, further, S. Pines, "Aristotle's Politics in Arabic philosophy," Israel Oriental Studies 5 (1975), pp. 150-66; Franz Rosenthal, The Muslim Concept of Freedom (Leiden,
1960). pp. 31-32; and, on natural slavery, S. M. Stern, Aristotle on the World State
(Oxford, 1968), pp. 30ff.

6. Aristotle, Politics I285a20.

7. Cited in E. I. J. Rosenthal, Political Thought in Medieval Islam (Cambridge.
1958), pp. 154-55.

8. Kirmani, Rahatu'l-aql [sic]. ed. M. Kamil Hussein and M. Mustafa Hilmy,
(Cairo, 1953), p. 241.

9. In the biblical version, as noted, the curse falls only on Canaan, and consists
only of servitude. With the exception of one passage, neither the Babylonian nor the
Jerusalem Talmud departs from this biblical version. This exception is a curious story in
both Talmuds (Sanhedrin, 108b; The Babylonian Talmud: Seder Nashim, ed. I. Epstein, trans. Jacob Shachter and H. Freeman [London, 1935], p. 745) and in a few
midrashim which tells of how three creatures transgressed in the Ark: the dog, the
raven, and Noah's son Ham. All three were smitten in punishment. Ham's punishment,
in the Babylonian Talmud, was that laqa be"oro, (lit., "he was smitten in his skin"). In
the Jerusalem Talmud, Ham is mefuham (lit. "charred," cf. peham, "charcoal"). Later
commentators, including the Soncino translator, assume this to refer to blackness,
perhaps under the influence of medieval versions of the story. There is, however,
nothing in the text to indicate that the hereditary curse had been extended from
servitude to blackness or that it was transferred from Canaan, who was white, to Kush,
who was black. Neither Kush nor racial blackness is mentioned, nor is there anything to
show that blackness as such was seen as a punishment, appropriate to the term "smitten." On the contrary. there are several passages in ancient Jewish literature indicating
that "black is beautiful." The well-known verse in the Song of Solomon (1:5), which the
authorized version, following the Latin, renders "I am black, but comely. 0 ye daughters of Jerusalem," reads, in the original Hebrew and unequivocally in the earliest
Greek translations, both Jewish and Christian, "I am black and comely." The "hut"
(sed in the Vulgate) appears to be the contribution of Saint Jerome. In Numbers 12.
where Moses' sister Miriam denounces his marriage with an Ethiopian woman, she is
punished by God for this offense. The punishment is leprosy-"Behold, Miriam became leprous. white as snow" (Numbers 12:10). Moses pleaded for his sister, who was
let off with the lesser punishment of seven days' banishment from the camp, after which
she returned, was forgiven, and, presumably, resumed her normal color.