History of slavery in the Muslim world

Slavery in the Muslim world first developed out of the slavery practices of pre-Islamic Arabia, and were at times radically different, depending on social-political factors such as the Arab slave trade. Two rough estimates by scholars of the number of slaves held over twelve centuries in Muslim lands are 11.5 million and 14 million.

Under Sharia (Islamic law), children of slaves or prisoners of war could become slaves but only non-Muslims.Manumission of a slave was encouraged as a way of expiating sins. Many early converts to Islam, such as Bilal ibn Rabah al-Habashi, were the poor and former slaves. In theory, slavery in Islamic law does not have a racial or color component, although this has not always been the case in practice.

Throughout Islamic history, slaves served in various social and economic roles, from powerful Emirs to harshly treated workers. Early on in Muslim history they were used in plantation labor similar to that in the Americas, but this was abandoned after harsh treatment led to destructive slave revolts, the most notable being the Zanj Rebellion. Slaves were widely employed in irrigation, mining, pastoralism, but the most common use was as soldiers, guards and domestic workers. Some rulers relied on military and administrative slaves to such a degree that the slaves were sometimes in the position to seize power. Among black slaves, there were roughly two females to every one male.

Because internal growth of the slave population was not enough to fulfill the demand in Muslim society, massive numbers of non-Muslim slaves were imported, resulting in enormous suffering and loss of life from their capture and transportation.

The Arab slave trade was most active in West Asia, North Africa, and Southeast Africa. In the early 20th century (post World War I), slavery was gradually outlawed and suppressed in Muslim lands, largely due to pressure exerted by Western nations such as Britain and France. Among the last states to abolish slavery were Saudi Arabia and Yemen, which abolished slavery in 1962 under pressure from Britain; Oman in 1970, and Mauritania in 1905, 1981, and again in August 2007. However, slavery claiming the sanction of Islam is documented presently in the predominantly Islamic countries of Chad, Mauritania, Niger, Mali, and Sudan.

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