The scourge of islamic slavery

and violence in africa

PART 2

Long ago these exchanges occurred:

On Mon, 24 Apr 1995, Andy-K wrote:

> That most (Arabs) Muslims today are ignorant of the atrocities committed in the name of that religion in Africa, I'm certain of. I see it and hear it in my daily interaction with them, especially those from the North African region. There the schools teach them that it was the Americans who came to take black Africans, and even some of them, as slaves!!! Of course, Islam is against slavery, they'd quickly add.

> Comment from I-man:

> Hey, Andy, I'm not a Moslem nor do I intend to defend slavery of any kind. Mine is just a search for clarity.

> I'm aware of Christians who explicitly used the Bible to sanction slavery, for example, by invoking God's blessing for the slave ships, etc. However, I'm not aware of any Arabs using the Koran to justify slavery.

> Do you here use Arabs synonymously with Muslims? Were the Arab slave merchants all Muslims, and did they use their religion--as did the Europeans--to justify enslavement? I would accept *any* sources.

Andy-K responds:

I have to bring all this to present a focus. I-man's problem is not limited to him alone but the vast majority of Africans and even the Arabs themselves! And our brothers of the Diaspora actually got sucked on the BIG LIE; hence the formation of the "Black Muslim" movement, now known as the Nation of Islam. As an African, I cannot rest until the whole TRUTH is known, especially as the scions of the perpetrators of this crime continue to support the continuation of atrocities and exploitation on the African continent.

I have no choice since their off-springs have grown so arrogant that they treat all of us with disrespect and contempt, regardless of what role your ancestors played in making the deed successful. Or your own role presently or that of your parents in perpetuating the old order.

Its destruction (the MYTH) remains the only “salvation”, [Francis Kwarteng has dubbed it “psycho-cultural manumission,”] for us. We do not and must not see our redemption in subscribing to some esoteric and non-existent Nirvanas.

This response is actually a brief one, taking into account the huge available material. Since he asked for references, you can all make the effort to find out for yourselves.

It is true Arabs led proselytization of Islam, but it is not true that all Arabs were or are Muslims. One may even find an Arab Hari Krishna these days! It will therefore be technically wrong to use the two words synonymously.

It follows that not all Arab slave merchants were Muslims; especially that even some of those merchants were slaves themselves! However, within the complex scheme of things that existed during the 13 centuries (entered the 15th in the Sudan and Mauretania) of slavery under Muslim Arab masters, Muslim Arabs definitely relegated non-Muslim Arabs, Christians and Jews and other non-Muslims to second class citizens, open to enslavement themselves and all kinds of bad treatment. Even Muslims suffered enslavement under Islam! Rationalisations were found for all this under Islam, ably quoting the appropriate Suras, the most common was being accused of becoming “Hypocrites” or “Apostates,” and thus not true Muslims.

The books that are said to have captured these facts most succinctly are Bat Ye'or's books: "The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians under Islam" (1985) and "Les Chretientes D'Orient Entre Jihad Et Dhimmitude" (1991).

These things were done with the blessing of Islam and the Defenders of the Faith. An article in the Free Inquiry, Summer 1993, provides a succinct review on the subject. Let's take a glance.

It was noted that "Muslim theologians are unanimous in declaring that no religious tolerance was extended to the idolators of Arabia at the time of Muhammad. The only choice given them was death or the acceptance of Islam." Escape into exile was the option for those who would not convert and did not want to die.

We Africans were the next target after they had conquered the Middle East. Muslims are enjoined to kill all unbelievers and “kaffirs” or “kuffaars,” the derogatory word Arabs call black Africans, or take them into captivity.

"When you meet the unbelievers, strike off their heads; then when you have made wide slaughter among them, carefully tie up the remaining captives" (Surah XLVII.4).

So, just as the Old Testament in the Bible is replete with Yahweh’s alleged commands to the Jews to commit genocide on the people whose land their Yahweh had allegedly given to them, not even sparing the animals in some cases [that is, scorch earth tactics to make Samouri Toure and Babatou proud), the Qur’an is also littered with many injunctions to kill unbelievers in very ingenious ways, or take them as captives for ransom [Allah be merciful, some may be free upon meeting certain conditions, chief among them being converting to Islam, making sure not to be seen as a Hypocrite].

One choice example:

"As for the unbelievers for them garments of fire shall be cut and there shall be poured over their heads boiling water whereby whatever is in their bowels and skins shall be dissolved and they will be punished with hooked iron rods" (Surah XXII. 19-21).

These are just a few of many similar verses you find in the Qur’an prescribed for Christians, Jews and non-believers, that form the basis for the hideous massacres perpetrated against, and enslavement of, others in the name of Allah. You have to read the whole article in order to get how these sordid injunctions were implemented, from Arabia through Africa and India to the Philippines. On smaller versions, such things continue today in the name of Allah [just as we have witnessed in Nairobi].

It is not our concern that some Muslims, just as some Christians, argue that those who perpetrated such crimes against humanity misinterpreted the Qur’anic verses, and we hope they’d end up in the fierest part of their hell. Our concern is that such verses INDEED exist in the Qur’an and they were USED TO JUSTIFY the enslavement of we Africans, and the horrendous genocides of the past, and the killings, maiming and crimes against humanity that some Muslims continue to commit against both Muslims and non-Muslims today. They are the first to argue that there is no ambiguity or contradiction in the Qur’an when such things are pointed out to them.

As an African, whose ancestors had suffered from the onslaught of the Arab Muslim invasion of Africa and, caught between them from the north and the Europeans along the Atlantic coast, been forced to participate in that hideous trade, I cannot remain silent over the hypocrisy of the defenders of Islam, or for that matter, any religion with such a dubious background, still masquerading about as the ONLY road to our "salvation"!

Another book you may like to look at is "The Legacy of Islam", ed. by Maxime Robinson (Schacht & Bosworth: Oxford, 1974).

But let's dwell on Africa alone now. For this we turn to Orlando Patterson's book, "Slavery and Social Death: A Comparative Study", Harvard University Press, 1982. The fat appendix and references alone represent a gold mine for anybody interested in the question of slavery in general.

What you read inside may show you why the White and Arab Establishment are so afraid of their own shadows, and arming themselves to the teeth all the time. They fear Nemesis, from within and without, catching up with them. It never occurs to them that a fraction of that wasted funds could be serving to build them peace and security in the form of restitution - socio-economic interventions - for the carnages of the past.

We find at pp. 157-8 that the Trans-Saharan and Eastern African Slave Trade masterminded by the Muslims were far bigger in volume and inhumanity than the Atlantic Slave Trade! Between "A.D. 650 to 900 some 450,000 persons were transported in this trade; between 900 and 1400 approximately 2.8 million persons; another 2.4 million were carried away between 1400 and 1800; and during the nineteenth century about 1.2 million.* It is striking that the total number of persons acquired in this trade is well over half those taken to the Americas in the Atlantic slave trade, and that when the East African total of five million persons is added, the total volume of African slaves acquired by Muslim masters is greater than the total acquired by Europeans in the Americas (even making allowances for upward revision of Curtin's estimate of the transatlantic trade)."

(* Estimates from direct and indirect statistical data made by Ralph A. Austin found in "The Trans-Saharan Slave Trade: A Tentative Census," in Henry A. Gemery and Jan S. Hogendorn, eds., "The Uncommon Market: Essays in the Economic History of the Atlantic Slave Trade (New York: Academic Press, 1979), pp. 23-76.

Percentages of the higher mortality in the Trans-Saharan Trade were then provided. That's how, over the millennia, Africans have formed the labour reservoir upon which others have built their palaces and wealth. Yes! Their civilisations!

It continues today, through extraction of surplus value by way of the once again accepted and "normal" "deteriorating terms of trade" economics love to calculate. In secondary school, we were taught that we received low prices for our exports because they were primary goods (not their apples or stock fish in our markets though). But, can someone explain to me why Bangladeshi textile workers don’t even get up to $40 per month take home pay, an amount far less than the cost of some of the dresses they make? Sure! Some cost $2 too. Why so cheap? Well, this is about the ravages of Islam but we must not lose focus on the ultimate goal: getting correct value placed on our lives and the fruits of our labour.

You'd find an elaborate discourse on the rationalisation of slavery by both Christianity and Islam, as well as other countless societies, including our own, in Patterson’s book. It's a masterpiece and a gift to posterity and all who want to fight against the lingering warped effects of that inhuman trade, the continuation of inhumane practices by the leaders of this world and religious fundamentalism and violence would find it very useful. Using thousands of billions of dollars to pile up weapons of destruction, while over a billion people live in increasingly wretched conditions beyond their choice is highly warped and uncivilised! That is one warped and insensitive mentality left by the past which is fueling despair, disillusionment and religious obscurantism, abuses and violence.

We've only ONE EARTH, no need to destroy some people fighting over its resources, which we jointly and severally own, produce and must share more equitably.

I hope this suffices to answer your questions. It is up to those who are not consumed by religious dogmas, fundamentalism and greed to join the fight against this scourge of violence and charlatanism in the name of religion.

Andy C.Y. Kwawukume ©

Sept. 2013