Part 2: Islamization of Africa. Oct 8: Islamic Slavery and Slave Trading

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Part 2: Islamization of Africa. Oct 8: Islamic Slavery and Slave Trading"

Hugo Julian Fletcher
5 years ago
Views:

1 Part 2: Islamization of Africa Oct 8: Islamic Slavery and Slave Trading

2 Robinson: - Most Muslim Slaves not in Atlantic Trade (some exceptions) - other trades more important: West Africa into Sahara (from at least 9 th c) West Africa across Sahara North Africa into Egypt, Middle East Systems often intersected: slaves spent time in Sahara or North Africa before being sold into next phase of network East Africa (later, mostly important 18th-19th c) Interior to Coast Coast to Zanzibar Zanzibar into Indian Ocean Network (Oman, Persia, India) As in West Africa, systems intersected: slaves sold/stayed on Coast or Zanzibar, some remained, some sold into ocean commerce

3 Robinson: - systems made use of Islam - distinction between Dar al-islam (land of Islam) and Dar al-kufir (land of the unbelievers) used to justify enslavement - when there was demand, this distinction determined where slave trade emerged - end 15 th c and end 16 th c two jurists developed principles to guide : legitimate enslavement (who could be captured and where, also who could be possessed ) legitimate commerce (who could be bought and sold and under what conditions) responsible kingship (what a good Mulsim ruler should do to ensure the guide was enforced

4 Comments: 1. Overlooking slavery that existed within networks of trade - institutions of slavery in the Sahara or North Africa or on the East African coast existed because slavery integral part Islam - religion born in society where slavery normal : law and hadith address many aspects of institution and treatment of slaves - slavery as institution not about difference between believer and unbeliever

5 2. Oversimplifying relationship between legal distinctions and generating of trade - existence of slavery within African societies generated own demand and own supply networks (as well as own reproduction) as normal business - systems of trade involving merchants, transporters (camel and ship), service (for camels and ships, food, hospitality, protection etc), tax collectors (revenue for state), once developed and installed were relatively permanent and did not collapse overnight - debates/questions around specific aspects of legal slave trading continued but in context of existing commercial network - where distinction important was in engaging Islamic jurists in business of slave commerce and governance

6 3. Implying selective use Islamic Law for targeted purpose - suggests broader interpretation in discussion of Al-Maghili and Askia of Songhay (lengthy quotation regarding legitimacy of jihad) - rulers seeking to establish legitimate Muslim states and societies - because slavery and (in this case ) trans-saharan trade so central to those states and societies questions of slavery are important - should not be isolated from larger set of concerns/issues - about how to conduct business as a good Muslim, how to ensure good business as Muslim ruler (not only who is enslavable )

7 We want to recast discussion slightly and ask two questions: What was Islamic about slavery in Muslim Africa? And what was Islamic about the trade in slaves by Muslims, in Muslim African countries?

8 What was Islamic about the trade in slaves by Muslims, in Muslim African countries? Use of Islamic Law distinguishes other slave trades from Atlantic. Most important way they are Islamic. Two central sources : - end 15 th C.: jurist Al Maghili (from southern Algeria, also tutored Kano Chief, Hausaland) - end 16 th C.: jurist Ahmed Baba (from Timbuktu, captured by Moroccans in conquest Niger Bend 1591 taken as hostage back to Morocco, opinion sought by number of merchants involved in Saharan trade)

9 Al-Maghili: [see Additional Readings Al Maghili replies ] - replies as much to do with justifying Askia s jihad (seizure property, people), legitimate leadership as with explaining who was enslavable - exchange provides insight into what Muslim society looked like: ambiguities, syncretism, real impact of Islam when only ruler/court was Muslim - clearly regulating commerce was central concern: slave trade part of larger picture commerce - but issue was more specific: trade in female slaves - detailed attention paid to issue suggests importance of exporting female slaves in larger commerce

10 Muwada a: - women slaves sold should be placed in care of trustworthy person for three months to ensure she is not pregnant - women who are menstruating at time of sale may leave immediately - up to good ruler to ensure that muwada a enforced, even if owner says no sexual relations occurred - this is about ownership : child would belong to former owner/master (as in concubinage) purchaser has no right to unborn child - also about responsibility of master re: child [see discussion below on concubinage] - goes well beyond concern for origin of slave/legitimate enslavement

11 Conversion: - if a slave is legitimately enslaved as a non-believer but then becomes Muslim in the household of an owner, is he liable to be freed because he Muslim? - Is he protected from further sale because he is now Muslim? - this speaks to point, above: slaves are being absorbed into households in Sahara, North Africa, East Africa and then later being sold again - reply was original status pertains : conversion not right to manumission [more on manumission, below]

12 Issue about more than distinction between land of Islam and of Unbelievers - More specific questions arising from intersection between slavery (owning, converting potentially long term, possibly involving reproduction) and slave trade (re-selling slaves from one, two or more homes into larger network) - Judgment critical to sustainability of slavery in African Muslim Societies and to facilitating slave trade [see Al Maghili replies this is commentary by translator, Hunwick]

13 Ahmed Baba (end 16 th C.): [see Ahmed Baba replies Additional Readings] - of interest to us is how questions have evolved, as well as how answers may have changed or not - century later, many more West African states claim to be Muslim (confirms for us Songhay, Hausaland legitimately Muslim ) - complicates issues for North African merchants - questions to Ahmed Baba reveal more about changing nature/spread of Islam in West Africa than about generic Islamic Law - also show struggle of Law to respond to change in region well outside heartland of religion

14 Additional readings gives lengthy excerpt from Hunwick s translation: - affirms Robinson s emphasis: merchants want to know exactly which countries are legitimate as countries of origin - but develops additional elements of concern: what about slaves who spend time in countries identified as legitimately Muslim (eg Songhay, Kano, Katsina): do we believe them that they are converts? And if they are, does it matter? Do we need to investigate when slaves are of mixed origin (regions either doubtful or known that one parent was unbeliever)?

15 Replies revealing of change over time AND of methodological issues: - note Ahmed Baba cites previous decisions on these matters, going back to 14 th c. - we see the Almoravid situation being called into play: Ahmed Baba has read the same sources we met in Conrad and Fisher and employs them in his judgment about who was converted by force and who not shapes his argument - Point: process of borrowing from past writings not only complicates job of historians but played real role in shaping Muslim Jurists fatwa (opinion)

16 - we see as well statement Uthman dan Fodio/Conrad cited about what is apparent is that they became Muslim of their own free will - now we see context for Ahmad Baba: this was a statement in reference to likelihood of enslavability - Voluntary conversion was the strongest assurance that the people were truly Muslim

17 Question (posed to Ahmed Baba): so what do we do with all this confusion? - several jurists opinions cited - has been issue for long time - varying opinions on whose responsibility it is to verify: slave, former owner, purchaser - Ahmed Baba puts onus on merchant - many pages of discussion, underscoring how central a problem this has become as Islam spreads but degree to which peoples have fully converted remains in flux - where Islam is shallow, possession of slaves is allowed - where people have been conquered and accepted to pay jizya (tax), enslavement is not permitted - when status of a slave is in doubt: merchants should not purchase

18 Overall: - can go further than Robinson s general point about using Islam to legitimate the slave trade - Islamic Law as interpreted by jurists regulated and shaped trade - especially evident with to handling women - if in doubt don t buy - even defining unbeliever was not simple matter - and it could change over time - the ruling on a slave being brought into a Muslim household where he or she converted NOT being protection against being sold again (a reply made by both Al Maghili and Ahmed Baba) must have had an impact on the practice of slavery itself [see below, especially Concubinage ]

19 Conclusion: - isolating the discussion of trading and holding slaves from larger discussions of how to be a good Muslim merchant or how to be a good Muslim ruler, period, is to lose sight of how integrated slavery and the slave trade were to the larger society and economy.

20 What was Islamic about slavery in Muslim African societies? The slave soldier, slave administrator : often seen as epitome of Islamic slavery - widespread in North, West Africa (eg Almoravids, Morocco, Songhay, Hausa States, Bornu) - Mamuluks ( the possessed ) ruled Egypt - BUT existence in Muslim states did not make practice Islamic - developed in context of expanding states/empires: need for large armies, administration - associated with Muslim regimes but not Islamic in and of itself

21 The Harem - developed into key political institution 16 th c Ottoman court - also followed spread of Islam into African states, including Mali, Hausa States - upper class society North, East Africa - harem included wives, children, slave servants and concubines - what was Islamic was not presence of concubines per se but laws regulating their treatment in society - may have been sense that corollary of being good Muslim and limiting wives to four, was to increase number concubines (eg Mansa Musa, Hausa chief)

22 Return to discussion of mudada a (Askia s questions to al-maghili regarding the sale of female slaves): - not only about legitimate trade and responsible leadership - for al-maghili, stipulation to determine slave not pregnant implied a recognized responsibility on the part of the 'father' not to sell the mother of his child, umm al- walid. - child born to master and slave: belongs to master is legally free

23 umm al-walid (mother of the son, literally): - acquired special status: taken into master s house (or harem if not already there) duties lightened (none if in harem) special status recognized by household could not be sold would be freed (at death of master if not sooner) Concubinage means of social mobility potentially, of freedom available only to slaves, not to poor women - assumes Islamic law respected by master and family (may not always occur eg story of Malian ruler) [see McDougall Women in Islamic Societies, Resources]

24 Manumission: - discussion umm al-walid raises Islamic practice of manumission - Islam (qur an, hadith) stipulates several conditions that should generate manumission: umm al-walid death of master (with respect to all muslim slaves) penance for stipulated transgressions - also recommended in recognition of special services rendered (eg bravery in battle, loyalty)

25 - manumission followed particular formula - written document - some exceptions seem to have occurred with respect to women - Fatma [see McDougall, Hidden in the Household ] requested a paper and was told she did not need one - in Mauritania, cases of umm al-walid being told your son is your paper - process and legality recognized as necessary by both master and slave [will return to significance of this under Abolition ]

26 [from J.O. Hunwoick Kitab al-tarsil. see Resources]

27 Master-Slave Relationship: - al-maghili pointed to need for compassion for slave - elsewhere in Islam, stipulated that slaves should be fed and clothed as you would yourself - perhaps not legal but certainly moral responsibility, including duty to convert slaves to Islam - responsibility extends to post manumission : master should ensure freed slaves able to manage independently - relationship mutual : freed slaves retain ties to former family - women in particular often act as members of extended family - family metaphor often used to describe both slave and freed-slave relations

28 Hidden in the Household : - article analyses three case studies reflecting many aspects of master-slave relations (including concubinage and manumission) - Fatma : slave brought from Timbuktu to southern Morocco as child (early 20 th c); household slave, became concubine to wealthy merchant, did not bear his child and was not freed upon his death. Manumitted several years later, retained close relationship with family. - Baba of Karo (Hausaland): free woman, wife of Muslim scholar, lived in seclusion, barren given slave to raise as her child, reflects integration slaves and freed slaves in Muslim household in colonial northern Nigeria

29 - Bi Kadje (Mombasa, East Africa): also free woman in wealthy household, secluded; recounts stories of former concubine who left household, freed slave brought into Islam by master, fate of slave freed not by master but by colonial authorities [more under Abolition ] Stories reflect intersection between slavery and Islam from perspective of the household can see more clearly how Islam shaped daily lives of slaves (and masters) and how it shaped their relationships both in slavery and in post-slavery conditions. As we will see, what is Islamic about slavery in Muslim Africa strongly shapes processes of Abolition in 20 th and 21 st centuries.

Empires develop in northern, western, and southern Africa. Trade helps spread Islam and makes some African empires very wealthy.

SLIDE 1 Chapter 15 Societies and Empires of Africa, 800 1500 Empires develop in northern, western, and southern Africa. Trade helps spread Islam and makes some African empires very wealthy. SLIDE 2 Section