Islam & the Afrikan

[Kefentse_Bandele]

The Forgotten Holocaust:
The Eastern Slave Trade

The Arab Slave Trade is the longest yet least discussed of the two major trades. It begins in the 7th century AD as Arabs and other Asians poured into Northern and Eastern Africa under the banner of Islam, either converting or subjugating the African societies they came upon. In the beginning there was some level of mutual respect between the Blacks and the more Caucasian-Semitic Arabs. Mihdja, a Black man, is said to be the first Muslim killed in battle while another, Bilal, is regarded as a "third of the faith." Dhu'l-Nun al-Misri, born in Upper Egypt near Sudan, is regarded as the founder of Sufism. Today Sufism's greatest stronghold is in Southern Egypt and Sudan. Islamic prosperity was based upon Black as well as Arabic genius.

[I]"The children of a stinking Nubian black---God put no light in their complexion!" [/i]Arab Poet, late 600AD,

But as Islamic prosperity grew, so did an air of hostility towards many Blacks, Muslims or otherwise. Some Arabs complained about having to work next to Blacks in high positions. After the Prophet's death, even the descendants of Bilal received negative treatment. Arabic writings became laced with anti-Black sentiment. This reaction of Blacks at the time to this can be seen in the writings of a contemporary 9th Century Black scholar in residence at Baghdad by the name of Abu 'Uthman' Amr Ibn Bahr Al-Jahiz. Al-Jahiz, to confront a growing tide of anti-black sentiment in the Muslim world, published a highly controversial work at the time titled, Kitab Fakhr As-Sudan 'Ala Al-Bidan, "The Book of Glory of the Blacks over the Whites." Al-Jahiz in his work contended that even the Prophet Mohammad's father may have been of African lineage.

These new attitudes towards Blacks by Arabs marked the beginning of African enslavement. Though not based solely on race, the Arab Slave Trade did focus heavily upon Africans whom Arabs now saw as inferior to themselves. At first these Arabs raided African villages themselves seeking humans for sale. This not being always successful, they soon enlisted the aid of fellow African Muslims or recently converted Blacks. Wrapping themselves within Islam, these converts rationalized the slavery of their non Muslim brethren as the selling of "unbelievers." At other times the Arabs would demand tribute in the form of human bodies from Africans weary of the fight against Arabic-Islamic incursions.

The Arabs took advantage of regional wars in Africa to buy captives from the victor. They also used the old divide-and-conquer technique. They worked one group against the other and took or killed the best and strongest.
S.E. Anderson, The Black Holocaust for Beginners


Slave Raids and Markets
The Arab slavers raided at nightfall, during the dinner time. Africans who resisted or tried to run were shot and killed. Most adult men were killed as the Arabs favored women and children for sale. The captives then endured a long and torturous march through the African countryside as the slavers searched and gathered more captives. Young men, women, and children were bound by hand and by neck throughout this journey, enduring beatings and rapes along the way. Those who fell sick or dead were left behind. Others remained bound to living captives.

After surviving the torturous ride aboard the Arab slave ships, Africans were taken to the slave markets. Here Muslim men would inspect their intended purchases. Women and young girls were degradingly probed by these men in public or private stalls to test their sexual worth. Those that did not survive their time in these markets were left out to rot. It is said that that hyenas, very numerous in the region, "gorged themselves on human flesh..." Pictured here is a slave market in East Africa.


Concubines and Eunuchs
Pictured here is an African trader (possibly an Egyptian)with two Sudanese slave girls for sale. The African is a Muslim while the girls are not. The Eastern Slave Trade dealt primarily with African women: a ratio of two women for each man. These women and young girls were used by Arabs and other Asians as concubines. Filling the harems of wealthy Arabs, they often bore them a host of children. This sexual abuse of African women would continue for nearly 1200 years.

The Eastern Slave Trade also dealt in the sale of castrated male slaves: Aghas or eunuchs. Used as guards and tutors, these slaves were central to familial peace, protection and order in many wealthy Muslim households. Eunuchs were created by completely amputating the scrotum and penis of 8-to-12-year-old African boys. Hundreds of thousands of young boys may have been subjected to this genital mutilation. Many bled to death during the gory procedure. The survival rate of this process ranged from 1 in 10 to 1 in 30.

Holocaust: The Numbers
Due to the enormous length of the Arab Slave Trade, from 700 to 1911AD, it is impossible to be certain of the numbers of Africans sold in this system. Estimates place the numbers somewhere around 14 million: at least 9.6 million African women and 4.4 African men.

It has been estimated that in all, at least 14 to 20 MILLION African men, women and children died throughout this trade. (Photos and Information courtesy of The Black Holocaust for Beginners by SE Anderson, A Pictorial History of the Slave Trade, Slave Trade of Eastern Africa by Beachy, Slavery in the Arab World by Gordon Murray and Africa in History by Basil Davidson)


An Arab slave raid in East Africa
1888. The death toll from 14 centuries
of the Islamic slave trade in
Africa is estimated at
over 112 million


This 19th-century engraving depicts an Arab slave-trading caravan transporting black African slaves across the Sahara. The trans-Saharan slave trade developed in the 7th and 8th centuries as Muslim Arabs conquered most of North Africa. The trade grew significantly from the 10th to the 15th century and peaked in the mid-19th century

[Escobar]

Ok well even if what you say is true i still dont think this is a reflection of Islam the religion itself...

For one Islam forbids going to war for any other reasons other than defense or liberating the oppressed...

Slavery practiced that way in Islam is also forbideen...Islam allowed the muslims to take as servants COMBATANTS only on the battle field whom fought against them...Islam does not allow u to raid villages etc etc....We must also look at it from a historical point of view...I believe the verse in the Quran which allowed the muslims to take the defeated oppossing ARMY only as servants was revealed 600 years ago!! Therefore there were no prison camps to send the defeated army, no jails nothing like this....So then what to do with the defeated army???Kill them?? Just simple allow them to go?? Then go where?? Or as a penalty for waging war against the muslims the muslims were allowed to take the defeated army as servants...It was very much like an indentured servant...So what islam allowed was as a penalty or a way of REPARATIONS for waging war and attacking the muslims....So after a few years the person whom once waged war against the muslims was set free and many times rose to high positions in society...And even this Muhammad(pbuh) said u must eat the same food, sleep in the same bed, and work along side them......Futher more Muhammad(pbuh) forbade cruelty towards a servant...He even said one who cuts the servants nose, his nose shall be cut, one who beats the servants he shall too be beaten and his servant shall be set free....So Islam forbade cruelty of any kind....

Islam ONLY allowed the muslims to take as servants the defeated combatants whom had waged war against them as a method of REPERATIONS...at that time that was the best method to deal with an defeated army rather than simple killing the defeated solidiers....

So if muslims have done what u accusse then they are hypocrits....THE QURAN EVEN SAYS some of the worse people in hypocricy and rebellion are the DESERT ARABS!! thats what the Quran itself says

009.097 "The Arabs of the desert are the worst in Unbelief and hypocrisy, and most fitted to be in ignorance of the command which God hath sent down to His Apostle: But God is All-knowing, All-Wise. "-Quran
so if they do what you say they are wrong and are hypocrits

[Kefentse_Bandele]

Originally Posted by Raqin Escobar

Ok well even if what you say is true i still dont think this is a reflection of Islam the religion itself...

For one Islam forbids going to war for any other reasons other than defense or liberating the oppressed...

Slavery practiced that way in Islam is also forbideen...Islam allowed the muslims to take as servants COMBATANTS only on the battle field whom fought against them...Islam does not allow u to raid villages etc etc....We must also look at it from a historical point of view...I believe the verse in the Quran which allowed the muslims to take the defeated oppossing ARMY only as servants was revealed 600 years ago!! Therefore there were no prison camps to send the defeated army, no jails nothing like this....So then what to do with the defeated army???Kill them?? Just simple allow them to go?? Then go where?? Or as a penalty for waging war against the muslims the muslims were allowed to take the defeated army as servants...It was very much like an indentured servant...So what islam allowed was as a penalty or a way of REPARATIONS for waging war and attacking the muslims....So after a few years the person whom once waged war against the muslims was set free and many times rose to high positions in society...And even this Muhammad(pbuh) said u must eat the same food, sleep in the same bed, and work along side them......Futher more Muhammad(pbuh) forbade cruelty towards a servant...He even said one who cuts the servants nose, his nose shall be cut, one who beats the servants he shall too be beaten and his servant shall be set free....So Islam forbade cruelty of any kind....

Islam ONLY allowed the muslims to take as servants the defeated combatants whom had waged war against them as a method of REPERATIONS...at that time that was the best method to deal with an defeated army rather than simple killing the defeated solidiers....

So if muslims have done what u accusse then they are hypocrits....THE QURAN EVEN SAYS some of the worse people in hypocricy and rebellion are the DESERT ARABS!! thats what the Quran itself says

009.097 "The Arabs of the desert are the worst in Unbelief and hypocrisy, and most fitted to be in ignorance of the command which God hath sent down to His Apostle: But God is All-knowing, All-Wise. "-Quran
so if they do what you say they are wrong and are hypocrits

Now this sounds typical of a Black muslim tryin to say that 1 form of slavery wasnt worst than the other forms. Or, slavery in Islam wasnt THAT bad to the enslaved...unless you were a slave of Islam and Arabs I dont think you should say to what extreme the servitude was to the servants. Is beating your wife cruelty? Does Islam allow male muslims to beat their muslim wives as long as the stick or branch isnt too long? Furthermore, what Afrikan people initiated war on the hoardes of Arab conquerors during these said periods? The Nuba? who??

[Escobar]

Originally Posted by Kefentse_Bandele

Now this sounds typical of a Black muslim tryin to say that 1 form of slavery wasnt worst than the other forms. Or, slavery in Islam wasnt THAT bad to the enslaved...unless you were a slave of Islam and Arabs I dont think you should say to what extreme the servitude was to the servants. Is beating your wife cruelty? Does Islam allow male muslims to beat their muslim wives as long as the stick or branch isnt too long? Furthermore, what Afrikan people initiated war on the hoardes of Arab conquerors during these said periods? The Nuba? who??

No Islam does not allow a man to beat his wife...As Muhammad(pbuh) never struck his wife and has said the best muslim is he who is best to his wife.

Thats my entire point if muslims did what you alledge then they were wrong by the laws of Islam!! And what they did is a major sin!!As i said yes they are wrong by Islamic standards to enslave peoples or go to war for the material gain....

As i said "slavery" in ISlam is not accepted...Islam only ALLOWED the muslims to take as servants those COMBATANTS whom waged war against them and afterwards were defeated...And even Islam the laws of ISlam called for them to be treated good, not struck, you must work alongside them, eat the same food, and sleep in the same bed...And after a set period they were set free to do whatever....Muhammad(pbuh) did not allow anyone to be treated unjustly or bellitled...NOW THIS IS WHAT ISLAM ALLOWED!!!ANYTHING ELSE IS PERVERSION OF ISLAM

[Kefentse_Bandele]

Originally Posted by Raqin Escobar

No Islam does not allow a man to beat his wife...As Muhammad(pbuh) never struck his wife and has said the best muslim is he who is best to his wife.

Then what is this??

"One translation of Chapter 4, Verse 34 of the Quran states, in part, "And as for those women whose ill-willed rebellion you have reason to fear, admonish them first; then leave them alone in bed; then beat them; and if thereupon they pay you heed, do not seek to harm them." (Muhammad Asad translation)."

Uhuru!!

[Escobar]

no its not!!

Most translations say a "light tap"

and arabic words come from root words which can break off into many different meanings...

Anyway we are suppossed to follow Muhammad(pbuh) example...he never once hit any of his wives or daughters...

[Kefentse_Bandele]

Originally Posted by Raqin Escobar

no its not!! Most translations say a "light tap"

ask a woman if you "light tap" her is that abuse....

[Escobar]

So dont light tap

[Kefentse_Bandele]

but the quran is your guidance source correct?
the word of Allah?

[S-1]

It say to beat/"light tap" not to think about it and any form of slavery is evil.

[Pain]

This is scandalous!!!

[Simba Nerevu]

This is utter barbarism!!!

[Escobar]

UTTER PROPOGANDA....

"IN the whole story of the so called "Arab slave trade" the truth has been strangely twisted."-Dubois[World and Afrika]

"The arab conquest dear to sociologists are neccessary to their theories but did not exist in reality.[p.102] Cheik anta Diop...

[Escobar]

Originally Posted by Kefentse_Bandele

Then what is this??

"One translation of Chapter 4, Verse 34 of the Quran states, in part, "And as for those women whose ill-willed rebellion you have reason to fear, admonish them first; then leave them alone in bed; then beat them; and if thereupon they pay you heed, do not seek to harm them." (Muhammad Asad translation)."

Uhuru!!

"Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has given the one more (strength) than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in (the husband's) absence what Allah would have them guard. As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (Next), refuse to share their beds, (And last) beat them (lightly); but if they return to obedience, seek not against them Means (of annoyance): For Allah is Most High, great (above you all). "-Quran