The Trans-Saharan Slave trade, a Brief look

(English isn't my first language so i might make grammatical mistakes)
The Trans-Saharan trade happened from the 8th till the 16th centuries CE. In the 15th and 16th century it was composed of six major trade paths, four reached into West Africa. The West African centres (Ancient Ghana, Timbuktu, the Hausa Niger valley and Lake Chad) were based in the northern parts of the West African savannah (the Sahel region) they stretched in north-south lines across the Sahara to the southernmost parts of the Mediterranean economy (Sijilmasa and Ifriqiya, Tuwat, Ghat and Ghadames, and Murzuk)[1] Gold and salt were the main exchange of commodity[2] cowrie shells [3] but since god was scarce in north Africa females were enslaved[4]Trans-Saharan slave trade was conducted within the ambits of the trans-Saharan trade, otherwise referred to as the Arab trade. Trans-Saharan trade, conducted across the Sahara Desert, was a web of commercial interactions between the Arab world (North Africa and the Persian Gulf) and sub-Saharan Africa. The main objects of this trade were gold and salt; gold was in abundance in the western part of Africa, but scarce in North Africa. On the other hand, while salt remains indispensable to human societies, it was not producible in sub-Saharan Africa, but was abundant in North Africa. This created a rationale for trading between these two regions, separated by a vast and hostile terrain. Subsequently, there developed an intricate web of trade routes, powered by caravans of camels, between different sub-Saharan societies and the Arab world, For ages, the Sahara has been portrayed as an ‘empty-quarter’ where only nomads on their spiteful camels dare to tread. Colonial ethnographic templates reinforced perceptions about the Sahara as a ‘natural’ boundary between the North and the rest of Africa, separatinz ‘White’ and ‘Black’ Africa and, by extension, ‘Arabs’ and ‘Berbers’ from ‘Africans’. Consequently, very few scholars have ventured into the Sahara despite the overwhelming historical evidence pointing to the interactions, interdependencies and shared histories of neighboring African countries. By transcending the artificial ‘Saharan frontier’, it is easy to see that the Sahara has always been a hybrid space of cross-cultural interactions marked by continuous flows of peoples, ideas and goods.[5]

Muslim traders mainly wanted female slaves administrative positions, military and some labour in the salt mines, Atlantic traders used slaves for labour and would take any physically capable slaves of regardless of gender (though the African preference for female slaves resulted in a 2:1 ratio of male slaves leaving for the Americas)[6]

Within the past couple of mounts including the latest video by the masked arab, I've see people using the claim that islam was both the direct and the indirect meaning that Islam more specifically the Quran and Hadith exegeses caused the muslim traders to allow slave trade, this is not a direct response to the masked arab video regarding slavery , but rather will serve as a refutation that any muslim can use to respond to such possible scenario, I did come accrose several sources that claim islam was directly or indirectly responsible for the slave trade[7], I shall look into the claim that the slave trade was conducted duo to religious rather than political and economic causes.

However, Historians have not fully addressed the specifics of the Trans-Saharan slave trade[8]

There has been also many disagreement regarding the number of slaves transported during the events[9]

the institution of slavery as it existed in Africa, and the effects of world slave-trade systems on African people and societies. As in most of the world, slavery, or involuntary human servitude, was practiced across Africa from prehistoric times to the modern era. When people today think of slavery, many envision the form in which it existed in the United States before the American Civil War (1861-1865): one racially identifiable group owning and exploiting another. However, in other parts of the world, slavery has taken many different forms. In Africa, many societies recognized slaves merely as property, but others saw them as dependents who eventually might be integrated into the families of slave owners. Still other societies allowed slaves to attain positions of military or administrative power. Most often, both slave owners and slaves were black Africans, although they were frequently of different ethnic groups. Traditionally, African slaves were bought to perform menial or domestic labor, to serve as wives or concubines, or to enhance the status of the slave owner.

Traditional African practices of slavery were altered to some extent beginning in the 7th century by two non-African groups of slave traders: Arab Muslims and Europeans. From the 7th to the 20th century, Arab Muslims raided and traded for black African slaves in West, Central, and East Africa, sending thousands of slaves each year to North Africa and parts of Asia. From the 15th to the 19th century, Europeans bought millions of slaves in West, Central, and East Africa and sent them to Europe; the Caribbean; and North, Central, and South America. These two overlapping waves of transcontinental slave trading made the slave trade central to the economies of many African states and threatened many more Africans with enslavement.[10]

Non-Muslim rule and official Authorities:

For many including ethical reasons, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and the many other governments have Legitimated the slave trade this will be explained later on The have adopted military bondage in regards to the natives of other countries including Spain defeating moors in 1492[11] The Curts made the discussion that slaves are incapable of ruling themselves, and needed others more specifically Europeans to help them govern themselves, some of them where at dismay to hear and know that Africans actually ruled themselves and had their own systems and governments[12] They had the stereotype that the Africans were uncivilized and barbaric in nature, and therefore had to be ruled specifically by Europeans as part of their religious justifications[13] However, bases of such justification turned out to be unclear as the history of Africa testifies the complexity of the African independent government and civilization through its empires[14] Europeans to some degree also believed that native Americans , Indians and west Indians are unable to withstand the grueling work of the new world[15] Ever since the nineteen and fifteen century many European nations were involved in[16]

The Trans-Saharan slave trade later paved the way and the roots for the Trans-Atlantic slave trade[17] slaves were also used for domestic and labor fields as a necessary component of the world's cultivation[18]

Of course the practice of kidnapping slaves in the trans-saharan region diminished through time but was revived later by the British, a captain named Jodo Fernandes, under the explicit orders of Prince Henry, initiated the practice of the Portuguese buying rather than kidnapping slaves

Ever since slaves were no longer being captured without any price, the European explorers started to negotiate the price of African slaves from the African rulers[19]

In early Trans-Atlantic slave trade to America only few African slaves boarded the ships, instead the European explorer Christopher Columbus, the natives that Columbus encountered in his exploration as he found out that they were not strong enough to withstand the voyage from the newly discovered west and east and could not endure the harsh labor required to them[20]

Before boarding, the Europeans will literally examine the flesh of their cargo with hot iron tools[21] they could also receive more than one branding depending on how many times they were sold[22] the slaves underwent a procedure that became standard in which their captors grossly injured, maimed, tortured, and otherwise killed the African slaves to force them to submit. Slave traders used this part of the journey to ensure the submission of the slaves before they reached the auction blocks of North America[23]. There is one method categorized by Alex Haley epic, and that is slave amputation, in which if a slaver trader caught a slave running away for his freedom, he will amputate parts of the slave limps[24] Slaves also had endure excessive poor conditions[25]

The international community approved slave trade and made it an official governmental operation[26]

The Islamic rule in the Trans-Saharan/Atlantic slave trade:

, Abd al-Raḥman III of Cordova, , considered himself blond for an Arab caliph, and changed his hair color, for that instant racism didn't just effect skin color see Bernard Lewis, Race and color in Islam (New York: Harper and Row, 1971).5

Aḥmad Baba al-Tinbuktī was one of the greatest islamologists and scholars of premodern western Africa have argued that blacks are not slaves in nature for more details on his arguments read his works Miʿrāj al-ṣuʿud Muslims in 19^th century in Mali and Mauritania participated in the slave exchange Abū Mu­ammad ‘Abdullah ibn Abī Zayd al-Qayrawānī and Khalīl ibn Is­āq al-Jundī all have documented legal tradition in regards to slave trade[27]

The 19^th century was also marked by the emergence of Muslim state-builders such as A­mad Lobbo, al-pājj ‘Umar Tāl and Samori Turé.[28] Traders, imported goods like firearms needed to resist European encroachment and establish their respective territory, these revolutionary leaders engaged in raids that generated large numbers of enslaved Africans as currency.[29] The sufi leader Ahmadu have caused rise in African enslavement in order to trade for goods and and demanded assistance to rescue his family members[30]

In Al-Maghrib, male slaves were serveing as guards and soldiers to the sultan, as well as the wealthy chiefs, and female slaves performed as domestics and concubines[31]

Despite the nature of slavery justification being based on jihad on non-muslim lands, several scholars have pointed out that manumission was recommended[32] many scholars have been debating regarding the rules of slavery in islamic law, for example 15^th century Egyptian jurist from Hanafi school of thought wrote to the traders who to carefully purchase slaves and inspect them[33]

But as stated before, the best fatwa and legal opinion regarding enslavement of Africans in west Africa was written by the great scholar Ahmed Baba[34] who opposed it, it was a reply to a Maghribi of Tuwāt, who was arguing the non-Muslims subject to lawful enslavement titled “The Ladder of Ascent Towards Grasping the Law Concerning Transported Blacks.” Of which in his reply he consider it's not possible beyond the muslim world to enslave[35]

His legal opinions held a lot of respect of muslim scholars from Morocco to Hausaland[36]

Also scholars like Ahmad ibn Khālid Al-NāÑirī have questioned the legal legitimacy in enslaving Africans[37]

The main two sources used by the traders according to the maliki school of thought that follows malik bin anas were “The Treatise” (al-Risāla), was written by Abū Mu­ammad ‘Abdallah ibn Abī Zayd al-Qayrawānī who lived in 10^th  century Tunisia[38] The second was “The Compendium of Jurisprudence of Imām Mālik’s Legal Doctrine” (MukhtaÑar fī al-fiqh ‘alā maŸhab al-Imām Mālik) by Khalīl ibn Is­āq al-Jundī, a 14^th  century Egyptian scholar[39] The MukhtaÑar was the most popular legal source the Muwta’ (or “The Well-Trodden Path”), a collection of Prophetic sayings compiled in 8^th century Medina, was the first source of reference[40]

Conclusion:
based on the above references and sources we see that the juris opinions regarding slaves were directly influenced by political motivations, islam might have provided the frame work in which slavery was conducted, but islam as a core religion was not the Core direct and indirect reason behind it

Recommended Readings:

1-Patricia M. Muhammad Esq  "The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade: A Forgoten Crime Against Humanity as Defned by International Law" 2003 American University International Law Review

2- Ghislaine Lydon "SLAVERY, EXCHANGE AND ISLAMIC LAW: A GLIMPSE FROM THE ARCHIVES OF MALI AND MAURITANIA" 2005 University of California, Los Angeles

3- Marta GARCÍA NOVO "Islamic law and slavery in premodern West Africa" November 2011 Universidad Complutense de Madrid

4- ChoukI EL Hamel "Black Morocco a History of Slavery, Race, and Islam" 2013 Cambridge University press

5- Mitchel Joffe Hunter "The Trans-Saharan trade played a key role in preparing West Africa to participate in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade?"

This article format has been changed to make it easier to read

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[1] Lovejoy, P. E., 2012. Transformations in Slavery. 3rd ed. Cape Town: Cambridge University Press, p. 25.

[2] Fage, J. D., 1969. Slavery and the Slave Trade in the Context of West African History. Journal of African History, X(3), pp. 398.

[3] Manning, P., 2006. Slavery & Slave Trade in West Africa 1450-1930. In: E. K. Akyeampong, ed. Themes in West African History. Accra New Town: Woeli Publishin Services, pp. 100.

[4] (Lovejoy, 2012, p. 21)

[5] Writing Trans-Saharan History: Methods, Sources and Interpretations Across the African Divide GHISLAINE LYDON page.1

[6] (Lovejoy, 2012, p. 21)

[7] "Shirley Madany " http://answering-islam.org/ReachOut/slavetrade.html

[8] See Eltis & Richardson, supra note 3, at 1 (suggesting that "despite a major research effort in the last few decades, less is known about the movement of African peoples to the New World than the much smaller movement of their European counterparts before the mid-nineteenth century.").

[9] See Colin A. Palmer, The Middle Passage, in CAPTIVE PASSAGE: THE TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE AND THE MAKING OF THE AMERICAS 53, 54 (Beverly C. McMillan ed., 2002) (declaring that although the exact number of slaves who endured the Middle Passage will never be known, historians estimate that between eleven and thirteen million people survived). This estimated number does not include those people who died while transported overseas or soon after they arrived in the Americas. Id.

[10]DonaldR.Wright,B.A.,M.A.,Ph.D. http://autocww.colorado.edu/~toldy2/E64ContentFiles/AfricanHistory/SlaveryInAfrica.html

[11] DAVID COLEMAN, CREATING CHRISTIAN GRANADA: SOCIETY AND RELIGIOUS CULTURE IN AN OLD-WORLD FRONTIER CITY, 1492-1600, at 2-3 (2003)(suggesting that Spain's stature as an international power and territorial empire culminated in 1492). The conquest of Granada served as the last step in a ten-year military campaign by Christians to re-conquer Muslim Spain. Id. at 3.

[12] E. W. BOVILL, THE GOLDEN TRADE OF THE MOORS 95 (1958 (recounting the disgust of Ibn Battuta, a fourteenth century Muslim traveler to Mali, when he realized that the blacks, whom he had previously known only as slaves, were masters in their own country)

[13] HUGH THOMAS, THE SLAVE TRADE: THE STORY OF THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE: 1440 - 1870, at 147 (1997) (quoting Fray Francisco de la Cruz, a Dominican friar, as telling "the Inquisition in Lima, that an angel had told him that 'the blacks are justly captives by reason of the sins of their forefathers, and that because of that sin God gave them that color').

[14] Illustrating the sophistication of the African people through their use of currency; breeding of animals; smelting of iron, steel, and copper; and establishment of cities as large as thirty thousand. In fact, Africans were more advanced than the natives that the Spaniards and Portuguese met in the New World, for more read Encyclopedia of African Religion edited by Molefi Kete Asante, Ama Mazama https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_currencies_in_Africa#African_History

[15] Edward Reynolds, Human Commerce, in CAPTIVE PASSAGE: THE TRANSATLANTIC TRADE AND THE MAKING OF THE AMERICAS, supra note 12, at 13, 14(stating that "the punishing work in mines, a form of toil previously unknown to Amerindians, took an often deadly physical toll."). Spanish settlers began advocating the use of African slaves instead of Amerindians, "reporting that in mining operations the work of one African was equal to that of four to eight Indians."

[16] JOHANNES POTSMA, THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE 3 (2003) (explaining the fluctuation of slaves from slave hood into society based on territorial expansion, but noting that slave markets thrived in many European societies); see also THOMAS, supra note 18, at 112-13 (stating that the institution of slavery was not limited to Portugal and Spain, rather slavery also flourished in Italy and Provence).

[17]THOMAS, supra note 18, at 145 (describing the battle of Tondibi and subsequent disputes, which created a daily increase in available slaves in Africa's interior). See generally HERBERT S. KLEIN, THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE 103-05(1999) (arguing that an internal and international slave trade existed in Africa before the arrival of the Europeans, and that often European trading simply deepened pre-existing markets and networks).

[18] W. E. BURGHARDT DuBois, THE SUPPRESSION OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE-TRADE To THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: 1638 - 1870, at 8 (Dover Publications Inc. 1970) (1896) (recounting the argument of the English agent for Georgia settlers in support of slavery, who insisted that "[in Spight of all Endeavors to disguise this Point, it is as clear as Light itself, that Negroes are as essentially necessary to the Cultivation of Georgia, as Axes, Hoes, or any other Utensil of Agriculture."); see also 1 WILLIAM BACON STEVENS, A HISTORY OF GEORGIA, FROM ITS FIRST DISCOVERY BY EUROPEANS TO THE ADOPTION OF THE PRESENT CONSTITUTION IN MDCCXCVIII 310 (1847) (recounting the vigorous assertion of one South Carolina plantation owner on the success of his plantation through his use of slaves: "Georgia never can or will be a flourishing province without negroes are allowed.")

[19] in 1458, Prince Henry sent Diogo Gomes to negotiate treaties with the Africans. Gomes assured rulers that the Portuguese would not steal slaves or anything else, but would barter for these commodities.

[20] See Thomas. at 137 (explaining that although the Indians served the Portuguese well as soldiers, the Africans were far more effective in the cane fields); see also supra notes 20-21 and accompanying text (revealing the European perception that African slaves were more resistant to disease and more capable to perform hard labor than the natives transported east from the New World).

[21] See 1 THE HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD SLAVERY 98 (Junius P. Rodriguez ed., 1997) (reporting that slave traders often branded slaves to indicate ownership and/or to punish them for misbehavior); see also THOMAS, supra note 18, at 396 (describing how in Arguin in the 1440s, the Portuguese began the practice of the carimbo, or branding of a slave with a hot iron, which left a red mark on the slave's body to make it evident that he or she was the King of Portugal's property).

[22] See 1 THE HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD SLAVERY, supra note 57, at 98-99. "Slave traders and trading companies often branded slaves to indicate ownership, but as the slave changed hands among agents and shippers, others might add additional brands for various reasons." Id.

[23] Tameka Norris, The History of Slave Trade from Africa to Europe America (asserting that even "[t]he Africans that remained healthy [after the voyage] were put on display at public auctions and examined in a ridiculous and humiliating manner."), at http://wv.essortment.com/historyofslavejrmpw.htm (last visited Mar. 2, 2004)

[24] See ALEX HALEY, ROOTS 150 (Doubleday & Co., Inc. 1976) (exposing the fury with which slave overseers lashed their whips at slaves after one slave beat several overseers to death). The overseers also forced the slaves to watch as they whipped the headless body of the rebellious slave

[25] See Letter from James L. Bradley (1835), in SLAVE TESTIMONY: TWO CENTURIES OF LETTERS, SPEECHES, INTERVIEWS, AND AUTOBIOGRAPHIES, supra note 87, at 686, 687 (portraying the extensive hours that masters required their slaves to work in the field). "1 was always obliged to be in the field by sunrise, and I labored till dark, stopping only at noon long enough to eat dinner."

[26] See, e.g., Treaty of Utrecht, supra note 136, at 328-29 (bestowing onto Britain the assiento to import slaves)

[27] These are available as Ibn Abī Zayd, La Risâla ou Epître sur les éléments du dogme et de la loi de l’Islâm selon le rite mâlikite (texte et traduction), Léon Bercher, ed. (Alger, 1968), hereafter Ibn Abī Zayd; and Al-MukhtaÑar‘ala maŸhab al-Imām Mālik Anas li-Khalīl ibn Is­āq ibn Ya‘f­b al-mālikī (Paris, 1855), hereafter Khalīl. The latter publication is preceded by a note about Khalīl ibn Is­āq by the well-known scholar A­mad Bābā of Timbuktu. Also see the translation by G. H. Bousquet, Abrégé de la loi musulmane selon le rite de l’Imâm Mâlek (Algiers, 1958).

[28] D. Robinson, The Holy War of Umar Tal. The Western Sudan in the Mid-Nineteenth Century (Oxford, 1985); Y. Person, Samori. Une Révolution Dyula, Tomes I, II, III, IV(Dakar, 1968-1975).

[29] In 1276/1859-60, a caravan from Tīshīt sold 2000 salt bars, half of them in slaves, to al-pājj ‘Umar. That year, according to the Chronicle of Wal­ta, the price of salt dropped to ten millet mudds of Tagānt (approx. 35 kgs). It is likely that such salt would have been used in turn as currency to purchase all kinds of military supplies, including firearms and horses. P. Marty, “Les Chroniques de Oualata et de Néma,” Revue des Etudes Islamiques, Cahier III (1927), 367. An early twentieth century correspondence between the French colonial administration and the trading community of St. Louis, expressing concern for their commercial activities, makes clear that the exchange of slaves for firearms was ongoing. “Rapport du délégué du Gouverneur Général en Pays Maures (Xavier Coppolani) à Monsieur le Gouverneur Général de l’A.O.F. sur la mission d’organisation du Tagant, Saint-Louis 1er juillet 1904,” Mauritanie, Vol IV (1902-1904), Centre D’Archives d’Outre-mer (CAOM). See also Klein, Slavery, chapter 2; Robinson, Holy War. L. C. Faidherbe, the French governor of Senegal, went so far as to categorize Samori as a “marchand d’esclaves pour maures du Sahara.” Le Sénégal (Paris, 1889), 318.

[30] Family archives of Shaykh b. Ibrāhīm al-Khalīl (Tīshīt), IK1 (N.B. the codification of sources used throughout are from Lydon’s archival photographic collection). The letter, written sometime in the late 1860s or early 1870s, clearly indicated that Shaykh b. Ibrāhīm al-Khalīl had been a good friend of al-pajj ‘Umar. This letter is discussed in detail in Lydon, “Muslim Contests over Property Rights in Slaves in Nineteenth Century Mauritania,” International Journal of African Historical Studies, forthcoming.

[31] Ennaji, Soldats

[32] Moulavi Cherágh Ali claims that “it is a false accusation against the Koran that it allows enslavement of captives of war. A Critical Exposition of the Popular “Jihád” (Pakistan, 1977), 193 and especially Appendix B, 193-223. While not going quite so far, Ulrike Mitter explains how manumission was institutionalized in early Islam. See his “Unconditional manumission of slaves in early Islamic law: a­ādīth analysis,” in W.B. Hallaq, ed. The Formation of Islamic Law, (Burlington, VT, 2004). William Gervase Clarence-Smith Islam and the Abolition of Slavery, forthcoming, addresses this very question.

[33] Mahma­d ibn A­mad al-‘Ayntābī al-AmshāÓī (d. 1492), which can be translated as “The Correct Statement on the Selection of Slave-Girls and Male Slaves.” Risāla Nādira fī Sharī wa Taqlīb al-‘Abīd: Al-Qawl al-Sadīd fī Ikhtiyār al-Imā’ wa’l ‘Abīd , text edited and introduced by Mu­ammad ‘Ysa 6āl­iya (Beirut, 1997).

[34] Ahmad Bāba ibn A­mad ibn ‘Umar ibn Mu­ammad Aqit alTumb­kti on slavery in western and northern Africa is transcribed and translated in Mi’raj al-Su’ud ila nayl hukm mujallab al-Sud (Ahmed Baba’s Replies on Slavery), J. Hunwick and F. Harrak, trans. and eds. (Rabat, 2000), hereafter Mi’raj. See also Hunwick’s note “A­mad Bābā on Slavery.” Sudanic Africa, 11 (2000), 131-139. For a biography, see the Encyclopedia of Islam (Leiden, 1999), I: 279b.

[35] Mi’raj, 52 (English translation), 85 (Arabic text).

[36] Mi’raj, 7 (English translation), 55 (Arabic text); and Hunwick, “A­mād Bābā on Slavery,” 135.

[37] Hunwick, “Islamic Law.

[38] Ibn Abī Zayd, La Risāla ou Epître sur les éléments du dogme et de la loi de l’Islām selon le rite mālikite (texte et traduction), Léon Bercher, ed. (Alger, 1968), hereafter Ibn Abī Zayd. Note that sometimes West African jurists refer to this work as “the author of the Risāla” or simply “Ab­ Mu­ammad.”

[39] Al-MukhtaÑar‘ala maŸhab al-Imām Mālik ibn Anas li-Khalīl ibn Is­āq ibn Ya‘f­b al-mālikī (Paris, 1855). This is one of the best transcriptions and it is preceded by a note about the author by the hand of the celebrated Ahmad Bābā of Timbuktu, hereafter Khalīl. Also see the translation by G. H. Bousquet, Abrégé de la loi musulmane selon le rite de l’Imâm Mâlek (Algiers, 1956). Note that in West African texts, Khālil is sometimes referred to as “Sīdī Khālil.”

[40] The MuwāÓÓa was complied in the course of forty years. See W. B. Hallaq, “On Dating the Muwatta,” UCLA Journal of Islamic and Near Eastern Law1, 1 (2001), 23-45. For a general history of Islamic legal thought see Hallaq’s A History of Islamic Legal Theories (Cambridge, 1997). Another useful guide is Mohamed Hashim Kamali’s Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence (Cambridge, 2003).