Part 2: Islamization of Africa

Oct 8: “Islamic Slavery and Slave Trading”

Islamic Slavery & TradeRobinson:

- Most Muslim Slaves not in Atlantic Trade (some exceptions)- other trades more important:

West Africa into Sahara (from at least 9th 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 CoastCoast to ZanzibarZanzibar 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

Islamic Slavery & TradeRobinson:

- “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 15th c and end 16th 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

Islamic Slavery & TradeComments:

1. Overlooking ‘slavery’ that existed within networks of trade

- institutions of slavery in the Sahara or North Africa or on theEast African coast existed because slavery integral part Islam- religion born in society where slavery ‘normal’: law and hadithaddress many aspects of institution and treatment of slaves- slavery as institution not about difference between believer and unbeliever

Islamic Slavery & Trade2. 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

Islamic Slavery & Trade3. 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’)

Islamic Slavery & TradeWe 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?

Islamic Slavery & Trade“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 15th C.: jurist Al Maghili (from southern Algeria, also tutored Kano Chief, Hausaland)- end 16th 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)

Islamic Slavery & TradeAl-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

Islamic Slavery & TradeMuwada’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

Islamic Slavery & TradeConversion:

- 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]

Islamic Slavery & TradeIssue 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 MuslimSocieties – and to facilitating slave trade

[see Al Maghili replies… this is commentary by translator, Hunwick]

Islamic Slavery & TradeAhmed Baba (end 16th 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 IslamicLaw- also show struggle of ‘Law’ to respond to change in region well outside ‘heartland’ of religion

Islamic Slavery & TradeAdditional 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)?

Islamic Slavery & TradeReplies revealing of change over time AND of methodological issues:

- note Ahmed Baba cites previous ‘decisions’ on these matters, going back to 14th 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)

Islamic Slavery & Trade- 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

Islamic Slavery & TradeQuestion (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

Islamic Slavery & TradeOverall:

- 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’]

Islamic Slavery & TradeConclusion:

- 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.

Islamic Slavery & Trade“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

Islamic Slavery & TradeThe Harem

- developed into key political institution 16th 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 (egMansa Musa, Hausa chief)

Islamic Slavery & TradeReturn 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 masteris legally free

Islamic Slavery & Trade“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 householdcould 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]

Islamic Slavery & TradeManumission:

- discussion umm al-walid raises Islamic practice of manumission- Islam (qur’an, hadith) stipulates several ‘conditions’ that should generate manumission:

umm al-waliddeath of master (with respect to all muslim slaves)penance for stipulated ‘transgressions’

- also ‘recommended’ in recognition of special services rendered (egbravery in battle, loyalty)

Islamic Slavery & Trade- 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 andslave [will return to significance of this under ‘Abolition’]

Islamic Slavery & Trade

[from J.O. Hunwoick “… Kitab al-tarsil.”see Resources]

Islamic Slavery & TradeMaster-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

Islamic Slavery & Trade“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 20th 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 withfamily.

- 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

Islamic Slavery & Trade- 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 20th and 21st centuries.