Arabs and Africans

[kemet79]

ARABS AND AFRICANS

The Afro-Arab relationship was riddled with complexities lined in a cultural nexus. The greatest thing to appreciate is that the 18 th century definition of "Black" did not exist in this period and some so-called Arabs were Arab linguistically but racially African. Thus, the Arab trade in enslaved Africans was not only conducted by Asiatic and Caucasian Arabs, but also African Arabs: Africans speaking Arabic as a first language embracing an Arab culture. These Africans would have been part of the Arab society; they would have permanently resided within Arabia for generations. They would have seen themselves as Arab as African-Americans define themselves as American it was their nationality and did not conflict with their greater African identity.

There is however no doubt that the status of the African in Arabian society became associated with the enslaved. The word for slave (Abid) became the colloq. word for African. Other words such as Haratin speak to the social inferior class of Africans. Also Caucasoid Arab scholarship has its collection of racist such as Hanns Vischer who believed African "black" skin made them a slave-race. But equal evidence exist of the contempt for the trade as evident in the writings of Al-Nasiri. Books such as Tanwir al-Gabbash fi fasl al al-Sudan wa al-Habash by Ibn al-Jawzi, and Black and their Superiority over Whites by Ibn al-Marzuban testify to this. So, the legacy of the African presents in these Arab and later Turkish lands were far from that of absolute subjugation. Africans occupied senior military ranks, they administer provinces and managed the scared Mosque of Mecca. In the mid-eleventh century, the African caliph Al-Mustansir ruled Egypt with his mother, a Sudanese enslaved woman of remarkable strength of character. There are no such parallels in the New World. Africans, even enslaved Africans, played important roles in the history and politics of these regions up until and even including the 1st World War.

THE ZANJ REVOLT
The most celebrated resistance to Arab enslavement occurred by the Zanj . The Zanj were predominately-enslaved peoples from East Africa. The Zanj were subjected to work in the cruel and humid saltpans of Shatt-al-Arab, near Basra in modern day Iraq. Conscious of their large numbers and oppressive working conditions the Zanj rebelled three times. The largest of these rebellions lasted from 868 (eight hundred and sixty eight) to (883) eight hundred and eighty three, during which time they inflicted defeat after defeat upon the Arab armies sent to suppress the revolt. For some 14 years, they succeeded in achieving remarkable military victories and even building their own capital--Moktara, the Elect City, which at its peak was within 70 miles of Baghdad. Moktara had huge resources that allowed the building of no less than six impregnable towns in which there were arsenals for the manufacture of weapons and battleships. Their achievements are even more impressive considering that they occurred at the height of the Abbasid Empire. An Empire that presided directly over Iraq, Mesopotamia, and Western Persia, and indirectly over territories from North Africa to Central Asia, and from the Caspian Sea to the Red Sea.

After the Zanj were finally crushed the victorious Abbasid general Muwaffaq dismissed all claims of their masters who sought their return. Instead, Muwaffaq recognised their strength and incorporated thousands of Zanj into his own government forces. The effects of this powerful rebellion would echo in the Arab world, dampening all attempts at mass labour enslavement until the 19 th Century when European markets where furnished with spices and coconuts from Arab controlled Zanzibar.

Arab and Turkish history is littered with furious African uprisings. One other notable battle echoes in Arab history until today and was referred to as “ the battle of the Blacks ” which occurred by loyal Fatimids against Saladin forces in Egypt in 1169.

ISLAM AND AFRICA
See African Contributions to Islam

Islam was founded in a multi-ethnic Arabia which lay 22 km of the coast of the African continent. Prior to the rise of Islam, Ethiopia, a super power of that time, had annexed modern day Yemen and parts of Saudi Arabia for centuries. The Qu'ranic accounts of the mighty forces of the Ethiopian general Abraha, who marched towards Mecca with an arsenal of elephants, this testifies to the power of the ancient Ethiopian Empire.

 
Muslim in Ethiopia
 Africans were among the first handful of people to accept the new religion brought by the Prophet Muhammad. It is said that when Bilal the Ethiopian, one of the most revered legends of Islam, first heard of Islam he called it the ancient religion. The call to pray which echoes over Muslims lands today was first carried on African lungs (by Bilal).
 

Islam became a permanent feature in Africa when the prophet Muhammad in 612 sent the first group of the early Muslims to be protected from Arab persecution by the Negus of Ethiopia; this was the first Hijirah. Islam was thus spreading in Africa before it even reached Medina.

It is important to note that while Islam generally disseminated in Africa peacefully it took wars, such as the Riddah wars, to conquer the Arabs into accepting Islam. In the mid-tenth century during the rule of the Umayed Caliph Abdul-Rahman III (929-961), Muslims of African origin sailed westward from the Spanish port of Delba (Palos) into the “Ocean of darkness an fog.” They returned after a long absence with much booty from a “strange and curious land.” It is evident that people of Muslim origin are known to have accompanied Columbus and subsequent Spanish explorers to the New World. Also it is reported that the descendants of Kanka Musa of Mali made and epic voyage with a 2000 strong fleet in search of the Americas. Recent linguistic, cultural and archaeological finds in Brazil and Peru offer documentary evidence" that West African Mandinka Muslims explored the early Americas. Islam spread across to West Africa (by African traders such as the Fulani people)from as early as the 8 th century by African traders and was firmly established by the 11 th century. The peaceful non-obstructive course Islam took in West Africa was mainly because those propagating the faith were culturally and ethnically identical to those receiving it. Also the indigenous African had many features in common, such as animal immolation, communal pray, celebrating ancestors, circumcision, polygamy, dowry bride gifts, and the spirit or jinn world. The African spirit world of Bori and Zar was bridged to the Islamic world of jinns whom like African spirits could be friend or foe.

Such similarities between Islam and indigenous African religions facilitated a general peaceful conversion and religious tolerance in West Africa. Islam hence left African culture uniquely African and a traditional African Sufi Islam was formed over the centuries. This brand of Islam in time even reshaped Islamic culture in the lands beyond Africa.

Diop: The primary reason for the success of Islam in Africa, with one exception, consequently stems from the fact that solitary Arabo-Berber Travellers to certain Black kings and notables, who then spread it about them to those under their jurisdiction, promulgated it peacefully, at first... What is to be emphasized here is the peaceful nature of this conversion, regardless of the legend surrounding it. (Pre-colonial Black Africa, page 163.)

Asante: The religion of Islam made each Muslem merchant or traveller an embryonic missionary and the appeal of the religion with its similarities to the African religions was far more powerful than the Christian appeal. (Asante, Genocide in Africa 1991 10) Diop: The Arab conquests dear to sociologists are necessary to their theories but did not exist in reality. To this day no reliable historical documents substantiate such theories. ((Pre-colonial Black Africa, page 102)

 
Mosque at Timbuktu
 When Islam proliferated in West Africa around the 9 th century, one of the first universities was founded by African Muslims. It was called Sankore, Arabs and others came to Sankore which was built in Timbuktu to learn from the African erudites who lectured on Islamic belief, Islamic jurisprudence, astrology, science, and many other subjects. Timbuktu was reputed for African erudition where books and those who traded in books were the wealthiest elites of the merchant society. 

The bulk of African history after the Ancient Egyptians Medew Netjer , was written in the Arabic language by both Africans and Arabs. The Arabic script also served as an agami to write languages such as Swahili, Wolof and Mande. For thousands of years Arabic served as the international language of trade as English is today. Some of the hidden histories of Africa are locked in as many as 700,000 Arabic manuscripts written by ancient African scholars. One of these the Tariq-ul-Sudan, details the history of Islamic West Africa, but this manuscript remains inaccessible to non-Arabic speakers. Western historians would rather these documents, like the Dead Sea scrolls, remain in their sandy graves until they can find ways to twist and decimate their contents.

18th CENTURY BOOM

 
Slavery in Zanzibar, 500 Years Later (film)
 During the 18 th century, the Arab slave trade took a brutal turn. The Portuguese had destroyed the Swahili coast and Zanzibar emerged as the hub of wealth for the Arabian state of Muscat. By 1839, slaving became the prime Arab enterprise. The demand for slaves in Arabia, Egypt, Persia and India, but more notability by the Portuguese who occupied Mozambique created a wave of destruction on Eastern Africa. 45,000 slaves were passing through Zanzibar every year. 
 
Slavery in Zanzibar, 500 Years Later (film)
 To satisfy this demand the Arabs hunted deep into the interiors of Africa, they following ancient trails from Bagamoyo, Kilwa, Tanga, where terror and destruction followed in their wake. The Arab plunders met with savage resistance, which meant that the trade had a very high mortality rate. Many documents speak of the roads littered with the weak and the dying, the abandoned and the maimed, left with yokes around their necks. Many as in the case of Tsavo, Kenya became food for lions. Children who became a burden to the coffle gang were brutally murdered in front of their mothers. 
The likes of Livingston would have witness this devastation first-hand but history penned by Europeans recorded it as an endemic characteristic of Africa, as oppose to a very recent genocide that was previously unprecedented in African history. Livingston was the precursor to colonialism, the colonial template was written on salvaging heathen souls for Jesus and civilising them to be the cultural stepchildren of Europeans. Livingston is portrayed as the great White hope whom delivered Africa's from this hell.   
Left to die 
 

Thus in the name of humanity Europeans, namely the British and the Belgians, conquered Africa to destroy Arab slaving. For Africans one horror was traded for the horror that would deliver the mortal blow- Colonialism !


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

SLAVERY IN CHRISTIANITY (bonus)
Christianity, like Judaism and Islam does not outlaw domestic slavery; slavery was a feature of the time, which dealt with prisoners of war, debt, and criminals. It was integrated into the social fabric in which these three faiths were born into. In the case of Christianity, the numerous references to slavery do not facilitate racial Chattel Slavery. Both from time to time insist on the basic need for humanity within slavery. However both the Old and New Testament recognises and accepts the institution of slavery. The Jews are frequently reminded, in both the Bible and the Talmud, that they too were slaves in Egypt and should therefore treat their conquered people decently. Numerous Biblical references allude to equality :

Did not He that made me in the womb make him [the slave]? And did not One fashion us both?" (Job 31:15). 

But slavery was a clear reality of the Biblical Judo-Christian societies.

As for your male and female slaves who may belong to you, you may buy male and female slaves from the nations all around you. (25:44)
Also you may buy slaves from the children of the foreigners who reside with you, and from their families that are with you, whom they have fathered in your land, they may become your property. (25:45)
You may give them as inheritance to your children after you to possess as property. You may enslave them perpetually. However, as for your brothers the Israelites, no man may rule over his brother harshly. (25:46)

It is also clear that slavery is accepted in the New Testament as a fact of life. Some passages in the Pauline Epistles even endorse it. Thus in the Epistle to Philemon, a runaway slave is returned to his master; in Ephesians 6, the duty owed by a slave to his master is compared with the duty owed by a child to his parent:

To be obedient to them that are your masters, according to the flesh, in fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ. 

Parents and masters are likewise enjoined to show consideration for their children and slaves. Thus it can be concluded, In Christianity, all humans, of the faith, are equal in the eyes of God and in the afterlife however this equality didn't extend to, and hence was not recognised before the secular laws of man. Those not of the faith, were in another, and in most respect an inferior group. In this respect, Greek perception of the barbarian and the Judeo-Christian-Islamic perception of the unbeliever coincide.

REFERENCES
REFERENCES

The African Diaspora in the Mediterranean Lands of Islam (Princeton Series on the Middle East) by Eve Troutt Powell (Editor), John O. Hunwick (Editor) "2:177: Righteousness does not consist in turning your faces toward the East
Van Sertima, Ivan. ed. The Journal of African Civilization.
"The Negro Writer and His Relationship to His Roots," in The American Negro Writer and His Roots: Selected Papers From the First Conference of Negro Writers.
Rodney, Walter. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press. 1974.
World's Great Men Of Color. Vols. I and II, edited by John Henrik Clarke. New York: Collier-MacMillan, 1972.
The Negro Impact on Western Civilization. New York: Philosophical Library. 1970.
United West Africa (or Africa) at the Bar of the Family of Nations.Ghana: Privately published. 1927.
Blacks in Antiquity: Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman Experience Cambridge, Ma.: Belnap Press, Harvard University. 1970.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

JEWS AND SLAVERY


Slavery in the Bible was part of everyday life. In the Jewish Torah slavery was part of society as in most communities all over the world. However, the European Jewish involvement in African enslavement is a controversial one due to the publishing of work by the Nation of Islam and Dr. Tony Martin, both naturally are charged with being antisemitic (along with Jesse Jackson, Desmond Tutu and almost all critics of the state of Israel). However, Arnold Wiznitzer a prominent Jewish professor, states in his book ''Jews in Colonial Brazil'' that Jewish people were involved in aspects of the trade.( Jews in Colonial Brazil (1960), pp. 72-3)Austria, December 20, 1899; Ph.D., University of Vienna, 1920. The presences of Jewish Slave owners are also echoed in the work of Jewish author Cecil Roth, Who stated:


"The Jews of the Joden Savanne,Surinam were also foremost in the suppression of the successive Negro revolts, from 1690 to 1722: these as a matter of fact were largely directed against them, as being the greatest slave-holders of the region “History of the Marranos (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1932), p. 292 by Cecil Roth. 


There is no denying that European Jews were active agents in the TransAtlantic Slave Trade, it is ridiculous to think that they were so ‘religious’ that they excluded themselves. But equally it must be restated it was not being Jewish that inclined them into being Slave traders. Jews by percentage of their presence in the population meant that they could never have been a slaving majority. This does not exclude them from still being key or influential in the slaving process from plantation owners, financiers of slave raids, to insurance brokers. It could be argued that these people were clearly European and may only have been Jewish in terms of ethnic origin or remote Jewish ancestry, thus attributing Jew to Slavery or Islam to Slavery is clearly distasteful.

All of this needs to be stated to balance the political overtones the study of Slavery is taking on. Many Jews claim that these facts are used in some antisemitic ploy and while the facts should speak for themselves. And yes it is true that there is a history of conspiracy against Jewish people; Hitler blamed them for this and that, Christians blamed them for killing Jesus (who was a Jew). But this one reality cannot be used as a blanket argument to created a sacred cow phenomenon around discussing the role of Jewish people in African enslavement.  The same malicious ploy against Judaism, where it exists, today is even more present against Islam.  Most groups Muslim, African, European, Arab, Christian have come to terms to some degree with their role in this period of history, as uncomfortable as it is; unfortunately the Jewish community is proving to be the last to come around to dealing with these historical truths. Until Slavery can be honestly examined for what it is, a terrible aspect of human history, it will always haunt our present. In addition, denying slavery is tantamount to being an accomplice to all that was horrible in that period.

[lado]

ARABS AND AFRICANS

The Afro-Arab relationship was riddled with complexities lined in a cultural nexus. The greatest thing to appreciate is that the 18 th century definition of "Black" did not exist in this period and some so-called Arabs were Arab linguistically but racially African. Thus, the Arab trade in enslaved Africans was not only conducted by Asiatic and Caucasian Arabs, but also African Arabs: Africans speaking Arabic as a first language embracing an Arab culture. These Africans would have been part of the Arab society; they would have permanently resided within Arabia for generations. They would have seen themselves as Arab as African-Americans define themselves as American it was their nationality and did not conflict with their greater African identity.

There is however no doubt that the status of the African in Arabian society became associated with the enslaved. The word for slave (Abid) became the colloq. word for African. Other words such as Haratin speak to the social inferior class of Africans. Also Caucasoid Arab scholarship has its collection of racist such as Hanns Vischer who believed African "black" skin made them a slave-race. But equal evidence exist of the contempt for the trade as evident in the writings of Al-Nasiri. Books such as Tanwir al-Gabbash fi fasl al al-Sudan wa al-Habash by Ibn al-Jawzi, and Black and their Superiority over Whites by Ibn al-Marzuban testify to this. So, the legacy of the African presents in these Arab and later Turkish lands were far from that of absolute subjugation. Africans occupied senior military ranks, they administer provinces and managed the scared Mosque of Mecca. In the mid-eleventh century, the African caliph Al-Mustansir ruled Egypt with his mother, a Sudanese enslaved woman of remarkable strength of character. There are no such parallels in the New World. Africans, even enslaved Africans, played important roles in the history and politics of these regions up until and even including the 1st World War.

THE ZANJ REVOLT
The most celebrated resistance to Arab enslavement occurred by the Zanj . The Zanj were predominately-enslaved peoples from East Africa. The Zanj were subjected to work in the cruel and humid saltpans of Shatt-al-Arab, near Basra in modern day Iraq. Conscious of their large numbers and oppressive working conditions the Zanj rebelled three times. The largest of these rebellions lasted from 868 (eight hundred and sixty eight) to (883) eight hundred and eighty three, during which time they inflicted defeat after defeat upon the Arab armies sent to suppress the revolt. For some 14 years, they succeeded in achieving remarkable military victories and even building their own capital--Moktara, the Elect City, which at its peak was within 70 miles of Baghdad. Moktara had huge resources that allowed the building of no less than six impregnable towns in which there were arsenals for the manufacture of weapons and battleships. Their achievements are even more impressive considering that they occurred at the height of the Abbasid Empire. An Empire that presided directly over Iraq, Mesopotamia, and Western Persia, and indirectly over territories from North Africa to Central Asia, and from the Caspian Sea to the Red Sea.

After the Zanj were finally crushed the victorious Abbasid general Muwaffaq dismissed all claims of their masters who sought their return. Instead, Muwaffaq recognised their strength and incorporated thousands of Zanj into his own government forces. The effects of this powerful rebellion would echo in the Arab world, dampening all attempts at mass labour enslavement until the 19 th Century when European markets where furnished with spices and coconuts from Arab controlled Zanzibar.

Arab and Turkish history is littered with furious African uprisings. One other notable battle echoes in Arab history until today and was referred to as “ the battle of the Blacks ” which occurred by loyal Fatimids against Saladin forces in Egypt in 1169.

ISLAM AND AFRICA
See African Contributions to Islam

Islam was founded in a multi-ethnic Arabia which lay 22 km of the coast of the African continent. Prior to the rise of Islam, Ethiopia, a super power of that time, had annexed modern day Yemen and parts of Saudi Arabia for centuries. The Qu'ranic accounts of the mighty forces of the Ethiopian general Abraha, who marched towards Mecca with an arsenal of elephants, this testifies to the power of the ancient Ethiopian Empire.

 
Muslim in Ethiopia
 Africans were among the first handful of people to accept the new religion brought by the Prophet Muhammad. It is said that when Bilal the Ethiopian, one of the most revered legends of Islam, first heard of Islam he called it the ancient religion. The call to pray which echoes over Muslims lands today was first carried on African lungs (by Bilal).
 

Islam became a permanent feature in Africa when the prophet Muhammad in 612 sent the first group of the early Muslims to be protected from Arab persecution by the Negus of Ethiopia; this was the first Hijirah. Islam was thus spreading in Africa before it even reached Medina.

It is important to note that while Islam generally disseminated in Africa peacefully it took wars, such as the Riddah wars, to conquer the Arabs into accepting Islam. In the mid-tenth century during the rule of the Umayed Caliph Abdul-Rahman III (929-961), Muslims of African origin sailed westward from the Spanish port of Delba (Palos) into the “Ocean of darkness an fog.” They returned after a long absence with much booty from a “strange and curious land.” It is evident that people of Muslim origin are known to have accompanied Columbus and subsequent Spanish explorers to the New World. Also it is reported that the descendants of Kanka Musa of Mali made and epic voyage with a 2000 strong fleet in search of the Americas. Recent linguistic, cultural and archaeological finds in Brazil and Peru offer documentary evidence" that West African Mandinka Muslims explored the early Americas. Islam spread across to West Africa (by African traders such as the Fulani people)from as early as the 8 th century by African traders and was firmly established by the 11 th century. The peaceful non-obstructive course Islam took in West Africa was mainly because those propagating the faith were culturally and ethnically identical to those receiving it. Also the indigenous African had many features in common, such as animal immolation, communal pray, celebrating ancestors, circumcision, polygamy, dowry bride gifts, and the spirit or jinn world. The African spirit world of Bori and Zar was bridged to the Islamic world of jinns whom like African spirits could be friend or foe.

Such similarities between Islam and indigenous African religions facilitated a general peaceful conversion and religious tolerance in West Africa. Islam hence left African culture uniquely African and a traditional African Sufi Islam was formed over the centuries. This brand of Islam in time even reshaped Islamic culture in the lands beyond Africa.

Diop: The primary reason for the success of Islam in Africa, with one exception, consequently stems from the fact that solitary Arabo-Berber Travellers to certain Black kings and notables, who then spread it about them to those under their jurisdiction, promulgated it peacefully, at first... What is to be emphasized here is the peaceful nature of this conversion, regardless of the legend surrounding it. (Pre-colonial Black Africa, page 163.)

Asante: The religion of Islam made each Muslem merchant or traveller an embryonic missionary and the appeal of the religion with its similarities to the African religions was far more powerful than the Christian appeal. (Asante, Genocide in Africa 1991 10) Diop: The Arab conquests dear to sociologists are necessary to their theories but did not exist in reality. To this day no reliable historical documents substantiate such theories. ((Pre-colonial Black Africa, page 102)

 
Mosque at Timbuktu
 When Islam proliferated in West Africa around the 9 th century, one of the first universities was founded by African Muslims. It was called Sankore, Arabs and others came to Sankore which was built in Timbuktu to learn from the African erudites who lectured on Islamic belief, Islamic jurisprudence, astrology, science, and many other subjects. Timbuktu was reputed for African erudition where books and those who traded in books were the wealthiest elites of the merchant society. 

The bulk of African history after the Ancient Egyptians Medew Netjer , was written in the Arabic language by both Africans and Arabs. The Arabic script also served as an agami to write languages such as Swahili, Wolof and Mande. For thousands of years Arabic served as the international language of trade as English is today. Some of the hidden histories of Africa are locked in as many as 700,000 Arabic manuscripts written by ancient African scholars. One of these the Tariq-ul-Sudan, details the history of Islamic West Africa, but this manuscript remains inaccessible to non-Arabic speakers. Western historians would rather these documents, like the Dead Sea scrolls, remain in their sandy graves until they can find ways to twist and decimate their contents.

18th CENTURY BOOM

 
Slavery in Zanzibar, 500 Years Later (film)
 During the 18 th century, the Arab slave trade took a brutal turn. The Portuguese had destroyed the Swahili coast and Zanzibar emerged as the hub of wealth for the Arabian state of Muscat. By 1839, slaving became the prime Arab enterprise. The demand for slaves in Arabia, Egypt, Persia and India, but more notability by the Portuguese who occupied Mozambique created a wave of destruction on Eastern Africa. 45,000 slaves were passing through Zanzibar every year. 
 
Slavery in Zanzibar, 500 Years Later (film)
 To satisfy this demand the Arabs hunted deep into the interiors of Africa, they following ancient trails from Bagamoyo, Kilwa, Tanga, where terror and destruction followed in their wake. The Arab plunders met with savage resistance, which meant that the trade had a very high mortality rate. Many documents speak of the roads littered with the weak and the dying, the abandoned and the maimed, left with yokes around their necks. Many as in the case of Tsavo, Kenya became food for lions. Children who became a burden to the coffle gang were brutally murdered in front of their mothers. 
The likes of Livingston would have witness this devastation first-hand but history penned by Europeans recorded it as an endemic characteristic of Africa, as oppose to a very recent genocide that was previously unprecedented in African history. Livingston was the precursor to colonialism, the colonial template was written on salvaging heathen souls for Jesus and civilising them to be the cultural stepchildren of Europeans. Livingston is portrayed as the great White hope whom delivered Africa's from this hell.   
Left to die 
 

Thus in the name of humanity Europeans, namely the British and the Belgians, conquered Africa to destroy Arab slaving. For Africans one horror was traded for the horror that would deliver the mortal blow- Colonialism !


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

SLAVERY IN CHRISTIANITY (bonus)
Christianity, like Judaism and Islam does not outlaw domestic slavery; slavery was a feature of the time, which dealt with prisoners of war, debt, and criminals. It was integrated into the social fabric in which these three faiths were born into. In the case of Christianity, the numerous references to slavery do not facilitate racial Chattel Slavery. Both from time to time insist on the basic need for humanity within slavery. However both the Old and New Testament recognises and accepts the institution of slavery. The Jews are frequently reminded, in both the Bible and the Talmud, that they too were slaves in Egypt and should therefore treat their conquered people decently. Numerous Biblical references allude to equality :

Did not He that made me in the womb make him [the slave]? And did not One fashion us both?" (Job 31:15). 

But slavery was a clear reality of the Biblical Judo-Christian societies.

As for your male and female slaves who may belong to you, you may buy male and female slaves from the nations all around you. (25:44)
Also you may buy slaves from the children of the foreigners who reside with you, and from their families that are with you, whom they have fathered in your land, they may become your property. (25:45)
You may give them as inheritance to your children after you to possess as property. You may enslave them perpetually. However, as for your brothers the Israelites, no man may rule over his brother harshly. (25:46)

It is also clear that slavery is accepted in the New Testament as a fact of life. Some passages in the Pauline Epistles even endorse it. Thus in the Epistle to Philemon, a runaway slave is returned to his master; in Ephesians 6, the duty owed by a slave to his master is compared with the duty owed by a child to his parent:

To be obedient to them that are your masters, according to the flesh, in fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ. 

Parents and masters are likewise enjoined to show consideration for their children and slaves. Thus it can be concluded, In Christianity, all humans, of the faith, are equal in the eyes of God and in the afterlife however this equality didn't extend to, and hence was not recognised before the secular laws of man. Those not of the faith, were in another, and in most respect an inferior group. In this respect, Greek perception of the barbarian and the Judeo-Christian-Islamic perception of the unbeliever coincide.

REFERENCES
REFERENCES

The African Diaspora in the Mediterranean Lands of Islam (Princeton Series on the Middle East) by Eve Troutt Powell (Editor), John O. Hunwick (Editor) "2:177: Righteousness does not consist in turning your faces toward the East
Van Sertima, Ivan. ed. The Journal of African Civilization.
"The Negro Writer and His Relationship to His Roots," in The American Negro Writer and His Roots: Selected Papers From the First Conference of Negro Writers.
Rodney, Walter. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press. 1974.
World's Great Men Of Color. Vols. I and II, edited by John Henrik Clarke. New York: Collier-MacMillan, 1972.
The Negro Impact on Western Civilization. New York: Philosophical Library. 1970.
United West Africa (or Africa) at the Bar of the Family of Nations.Ghana: Privately published. 1927.
Blacks in Antiquity: Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman Experience Cambridge, Ma.: Belnap Press, Harvard University. 1970.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

JEWS AND SLAVERY


Slavery in the Bible was part of everyday life. In the Jewish Torah slavery was part of society as in most communities all over the world. However, the European Jewish involvement in African enslavement is a controversial one due to the publishing of work by the Nation of Islam and Dr. Tony Martin, both naturally are charged with being antisemitic (along with Jesse Jackson, Desmond Tutu and almost all critics of the state of Israel). However, Arnold Wiznitzer a prominent Jewish professor, states in his book ''Jews in Colonial Brazil'' that Jewish people were involved in aspects of the trade.( Jews in Colonial Brazil (1960), pp. 72-3)Austria, December 20, 1899; Ph.D., University of Vienna, 1920. The presences of Jewish Slave owners are also echoed in the work of Jewish author Cecil Roth, Who stated:


"The Jews of the Joden Savanne,Surinam were also foremost in the suppression of the successive Negro revolts, from 1690 to 1722: these as a matter of fact were largely directed against them, as being the greatest slave-holders of the region “History of the Marranos (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1932), p. 292 by Cecil Roth. 


There is no denying that European Jews were active agents in the TransAtlantic Slave Trade, it is ridiculous to think that they were so ‘religious’ that they excluded themselves. But equally it must be restated it was not being Jewish that inclined them into being Slave traders. Jews by percentage of their presence in the population meant that they could never have been a slaving majority. This does not exclude them from still being key or influential in the slaving process from plantation owners, financiers of slave raids, to insurance brokers. It could be argued that these people were clearly European and may only have been Jewish in terms of ethnic origin or remote Jewish ancestry, thus attributing Jew to Slavery or Islam to Slavery is clearly distasteful.

All of this needs to be stated to balance the political overtones the study of Slavery is taking on. Many Jews claim that these facts are used in some antisemitic ploy and while the facts should speak for themselves. And yes it is true that there is a history of conspiracy against Jewish people; Hitler blamed them for this and that, Christians blamed them for killing Jesus (who was a Jew). But this one reality cannot be used as a blanket argument to created a sacred cow phenomenon around discussing the role of Jewish people in African enslavement.  The same malicious ploy against Judaism, where it exists, today is even more present against Islam.  Most groups Muslim, African, European, Arab, Christian have come to terms to some degree with their role in this period of history, as uncomfortable as it is; unfortunately the Jewish community is proving to be the last to come around to dealing with these historical truths. Until Slavery can be honestly examined for what it is, a terrible aspect of human history, it will always haunt our present. In addition, denying slavery is tantamount to being an accomplice to all that was horrible in that period.

I do agrre with

 Author  Topic: arab racism towards black africans!

by afrikanrebel06   Full Member on this forum Board in saying  :



Arabs’ attitude toward so-called "Blacks" derives from Genesis’ racist fiction of the three sons of Noah – Ham, Japheth and Shem. Arabs claim that “the accursed Ham was the progenitor of the black race; that Japheth begat the full-faced, small eyes Europeans, and that Shem fathered the handsome of face with beautiful hair Arabs,” of course and may I add futher to reinforce his statements on these lines :


THE THINKING MIND OF ARABS WILL NEVER CHANGE SO LEAVING BLACKS TO BE AWARE OF AND TO CARE OF THEMSELVES



The root of this thinking is thousands of years old now. It is a thought system that can be traced to the older religious beliefs . It contains what came to be a basic corner stone in the justification of the oppression of BLACK Africans over the past millennia: The Curse of Canaan.



This myth is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud, the Book of Genesis, the Book of Jubilees and the Haggadah – which is a collection of Jewish folk lore comprising the non legal parts of the Talmud. It states in one of its forms : “ The descendants of Ham through Canaan therefore have red eyes because Ham looked upon the nakedness of his father, they have misshapen lips because Ham spoke with his lips to his brothers about the unseemly condition of his father, they have twisted curly hair because ham turned and twisted his neck around to see the nakedness of his father and so they go about naked because Ham did not cover the nakedness of his father. Thus, he was requited, for it is the way with God to mete out punishment measure for measure. Canaan had to suffer vicariously for his father’s sin. Yet some punishment was inflicted upon him on his own account, for it had been Canaan who had drawn the attention of Ham to Noah’s revolting condition. Ham it appears was but a worthy father of such a son. The last will and testament of Canaan to his children reads as follows: speak not the truth, hold not yourselves aloof from theft, hate your master with exceeding great hate and love one another. As ham was made to suffer requital for his irreverence Shem and Japhet received a reward for the filial deferential way in which they took a garment and laid it upon their shoulders and walking backwards, with averted faces covered the nakedness of their father. Naked the descendants of Ham, the Ethiopians and Egyptians were led away captive and into exile by the King of Assyria.” ( Louis Ginsberg, legends of the Jews 1909 )



Other versions of the curse claim the descendants of Ham are cursed by God to be slaves, black and some versions even attribute the shape and size of the black mans genitals to this God given retribution.



The essence in the myth is as follows: Black folks are degenerate and God cursed them for that type of behaviour. The logical follow up to the preceding point is, that if God hates them, then we (meaning anyone non black) is fully sanctioned to unleash all manner of hell upon them or “save them” from their degenerate selves.



At times unleashing hell and “saving the savages” became 2 sides of the same coin, at others junctions in history it was one approach over the other, but without a doubt the driving force behind any action taken was always that same sorry song: God cursed U.



This strand of thinking has managed to infiltrate all 3 major religions – Christianity, Judaism and Islam – in varying degrees.



On top of that, it has taught the African to hate him and herself to such a degree that we have become unable to love, cherish and defend ourselves as a people. The most perverse part of it is we hate ourselves in the name of a loving God by the so call Arab Believers and the White Western World Believers. Thought patterns, Alien to our Black African original civilization and culture .



The typical example of these World world mentors still continues in the wrong direction of the so called Gospel preaching of the Bible / Coran :



The examples of hatred for the Black African, layered in so called religious traditions, which have shaped the outlook of millions through history, are abundant. Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormons based his exclusion of blacks from his religious movement on the basis of the curse. The, to this day, prevalent view of the black male as an oversexed beast, ready to stick his oversized genitalia into anything that moves stems from here.



Even something as up to date as the approach taken to the issue of AIDS: that it is a matter of changing the sexual morality of Africans and improving their hygiene is an echo of colonial missionary thinking, which viewed the Africans as diseased, dirty and sexually out of control. These missionaries were again well versed in the initial source of this thinking, the curse.



The Catholic Church used the curse to justify its heavy involvement in the slave trade. Bishop John Brown of the Bristol Diocese was a signatory to the Asiento treaty, which agreed that Britain would export 4800 Black slaves from Africa to the Spanish Colonies in America annually.



Islamic and Jewish salve merchants and scholars used the curse to justify the trans-Saharan slave trade. Moses Maimonedes, the famous medieval scholar and rabbi considered black people higher than apes but lower than humans, akin to irrational animals. He expounded these ideas in the text “guide to the perplexed ”.



Al Jahiz (Abu Uthman Al Jahiz), a famous Arabic scholar from Basra, who was a black African, wrote a rebuttal to the racist propaganda that had begun to flourish, as a result of a revolt which encompassed the entire southern Iraq, by black slaves as well as resident Africans in the area. In “The Essays” written circa 860 AD he states blackness is not a disfigurement or punishment sent by God.


RELIGION IS A PATRIMONY OF HUMAN VALUE E TO BE XPRESSED IN MANY WAYS TO DO NO HARM TO NO BODY :



Religion means to reconnect, to remember, one could say to realign oneself to the source of all life. Any idea that claims that a certain people are more deserving or worthy members than others in the fellowship of life is not religion but racist Hype which is playing a big role of the devilish acts . Africans too do have a Religion to follow in the first instance to know ------------


 
 

[afrikanrebel06]

well said lado, what about concubines, young boys being castrated to be enouchs, this a**** is sympathizer with I.S.L.A.M IN SLAVERY LEGACY AFRIKANS WERE MURDERED,who supports arab imperialsim in afrika, i dont trust him,just like i dont trust arabs,europeans and prusians, he probably is supporter of slavery
in mauritania and sudan, heads are gonna roll!

[Motingwa I]

Dear Kemet 79.

Thanks. Your articles heal old and even forgotten wounds. I don’t overstand why many of my brethren and sistren so staunchly attack purveyors of faith and ‘religion’ and their books the Bible etc. as if to say that they are totally useless for the emancipation of man from such as worldly and carnal enslavement or wrong living. Ones definitely have a lot of knowledge but at the same time I feel they reject a lot of what could be good for them as false and malicious.

I personally think you have shown beyond what I myself am capable of how even in Islam there is an aspect of Blacks claiming authorship. Even before I came across the names in your articles I was reminded of names like Abraha and Bilal. I also thought of the Black Muslim movement in Amerikkka and the Nation of Islam, although I don’t know a whole lot about those organisations. 

Years ago I myself did begin to try and answer for myself the question of who were the so called Arabs in Africa and why countries like Egypt, Morocco, Lybia and Algeria lacked a black populace; also thought about the ethnicity of the Berbers. What colour are they?

Contrary to what you are being accused of by the Afrikan Rebel, I think your knowledge serves to reinforce caution against the imminent swallowing of Black Africa by Arabs and you are not supporting the conquest of Afrika by Arabs. I heard you only defending Islam. Yes: In Slavery Legacy Blacks were Murdered but many a Muslim has revealed hidden history to me such as when I saw the his-story of Darwinian racism and the pollution they are still pumping into young minds in schools today.

Still I might begin to wonder why KMT 79 spoke up for the Jewish as non-slavers. Does not their position equal that of Cultural propagandists, thieves who mis-appropriated the status of being God’s chosen? And as for the Arabs never invading Afrika, does not mis-cegenation constitute an act of violence against the Black race? What about all the attacks that the Afrikan Rebel points at? I know you say that Black Afrikans can become Arabized and counted as Arabs...

Another question: you begin saying the trans-Saharan or Ottoman trade was not an Arab slave trade and yet you continue to refer to an Arab slave trade. Are you saying that Arabs DID trade in slaves in Afrika albeit non-Muslims? Perhaps After trying to refresh my memory by re-reading all the articles I can say you also spoke of the lesser maliciousness and after-effects of the Arab trade compared with the European model.

I am not saying I can defend Islam; I know I do not support polygamy. But I would also venture to say that persecution of anyone solely because of their religion is a violation of their human rights.

Afrikan Rebel’s post is an eye-opener too. It illuminates the ravage of Afrika that is going on in the modern day. But my point comes up here again. Why is the religion itself being spoken against when it is clearly the mis-interpretors of it who are plundering ‘in the name of God.’
...Then I came to Lado and re-reading his post reminds me of how the propagandists truly ARE doing all this to Afrika in the name of the religions. For a while I feel like the point I made at the beginning is becoming invalid and that Juda-ism and Christianity (and Islam) really are wrong.

But wait, I was saying that they are being mis-used and should rather be interpreted for Black peoples benefit rather than ‘get rid of the Bible.’

Perplexed
Motingwa I