Read on Twitter
Hello everyone! Shall we talk a bit about slavery in the medieval Islamic world?
The contours of Islamic history are deeply shaped by slavery and manumission (the freeing of slaves). https://twitter.com/Tweetistorian/status/1193767988006182912
The contours of Islamic history are deeply shaped by slavery and manumission (the freeing of slaves). https://twitter.com/Tweetistorian/status/1193767988006182912
Slavery was common practice in the ancient world. In the two great empires of Late Antiquity, Iran and Byzantium, wealthy households depended on slave labour day to day.
The same was true in Arabia.
The same was true in Arabia.
The Muslim Conquests took vast numbers of people into captivity. An inscription in Cyprus claims 120,000 people were taken! Such numbers are clearly exaggerated, but the scale of the loss was keenly felt.
Very few captives had the money and the contacts to buy back their freedom. Most were enslaved. The conquering soldiers kept them or sold them on.
Early on, the Muslims built new towns or neighbourhoods in conquered territories. It was official policy for soldiers to live in these segregated communities.
Most slaves found themselves working in these ‘garrison towns’.
Most slaves found themselves working in these ‘garrison towns’.
Enslaved people worked as copyists and tutors, masons and leatherworkers, cooks and cleaners, guards and nannies. Sexual service was also legal and regulated.
The second generation of Muslim soldiers was largely carried and raised by enslaved women.
The second generation of Muslim soldiers was largely carried and raised by enslaved women.
Enslaved people were intimately woven into Muslim communities and thoroughly immersed in Muslim culture.
Over time, many (if not most) were freed, converted, and adopted. In legal terms, they were clients (mawālī) of their old masters’ tribe.
Over time, many (if not most) were freed, converted, and adopted. In legal terms, they were clients (mawālī) of their old masters’ tribe.
Mawālī were free, but freedom is relative: they were still poor and subject to discrimination. Many kept on working for their masters. Others signed up to the army (on a lower standard wage), hoping to find treasure and slaves of their own.
And this is the vital thing to understand about medieval Islamic manumission:
Slaves were freed all the time. It was considered a social and a moral good to free your slaves.
But having done that, both the master and the freedman would simply go out and *buy more slaves*.
Slaves were freed all the time. It was considered a social and a moral good to free your slaves.
But having done that, both the master and the freedman would simply go out and *buy more slaves*.
The practice of manumission, so characteristic of medieval Muslim societies, ultimately caused *more* enslavement.
As the Muslim Conquests slowed, slaves were stolen from the empire’s periphery: Central Asia, the Balkans, North Africa.
They were brought into the booming cities, ‘acculturated’ as Arabic-speaking Muslims, and integrated into the free population.
Always, more came.
They were brought into the booming cities, ‘acculturated’ as Arabic-speaking Muslims, and integrated into the free population.
Always, more came.
Within a couple of generations, the distinction between ‘Arab’ and mawālī broke down. Individuals might still brag about their noble Arab heritage, but Islam was a universal religion, and all Muslims now had relatives from outside the Arabian Peninsula.
Okay, this thread is looking long enough. Next time, we’ll talk about slave soldiers: how enslaved foreigners became the sultans and prime ministers of Muslim states.
