Part 1
Part 3
Chapter 5 : Captives, Slaves and Racists
I particularly want to concentrate on the notion that Muslims are obsessed with slavery. The following are some things that I discovered, that's both amazing and made me feel proud to be a Muslim. ;)
Alright...an intro first..:) :
What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word 'slave'? Probably something like this, right? ; 'A black man, toiling in the plantation with many others, sweating under the sun, his back scarred with numerous traces of lashes trailing dark red lines deep into the skin...a white man on a horse in his full attire of an officer on duty looking dashingly handsome but his face sadly marred by a frown and a smirk, forever shouting for more work, faster work, a long sharp whip on his side, coiled neatly right now..but everyone knows it only takes a second for it to reach the back of a tired slave.'
Pretty gruesome right.
Anyways...this is the general imagination of a slave. Nowadays you would rarely see such things. Slaves are replaced with a maid or a housekeeper or a gardener that gets paid for the work and can buy and live in his own house. The word 'slave' nowadays have a negative connotation. And people cannot see slavery in a positive light.
Because of this, when slavery is associated with Islam, Islam itself is seen as a bad thing, seen as a negative thing. This is a classic case of misunderstanding and taking out-of-context a word. Slavery in Islam is not the same as slavery in the European or Anglo-Saxons' world. The same with the definition of the word 'slave'. It does not carry the same meaning. Nor the same implications.
I didn't know this myself until I came to chapter 5 of this book. Very very interesting...
(My comments below in italic)
Quotings from the book:
' The slaves (captives of war) lived in huge bagnios or courtyards under the direction of a guardian or a warden Pasha and a guard of janissaries. ' -pg. 195
' We were suffered to work upon any manner of trade or occupation wherein we were any way expert...and what we did or made, we sold to the Turks, and they gave us money for the same, wrote Edward Webbe in 1591 [1].'
' In the bagnos there was usually a chapel and a hospital, where father Dan noted that seven priests celebrated Mass at a improvised altar before dawn to 600 captives [2]. Chapels, Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox, served mainly by captured priests or visiting Redemptionist fathers were found in most bagnos, shops and medical facilities were provided and later slave hospitals were built, and there was even the possibility of relaxation [3]. Women and priests captives in the Barbary Coast were exempted from work [4]. ' - pg. 196
- Huh? Slaves living in big courtyards? Shouldn't they be kept in some small cramped dark dungeon? This was a very very interesting point for me. Slaves under Islam cannot be treated poorly. They must be treated respectfully as a human being and therefore deserve basic needs to live : shelter, food and a means to acquire money.
- Wow! Churches and Christian services in Muslim land, while under captivity? Amazing! Even under the situation of war, as a war captive turned into a slave, the slaves in Islam are not prevented from practicing their own religion. They are not forced to enter Islam and they have a right to set up their own Churches. Not only that, women and priests captives did not have to work!
' Many Christian captives did so well under Muslim captivity that they had no desire to leave. A captive who had made a success of business in 'Barbary' might well pay off his ransom and continue as a free Christian merchant [5]. One might mention the examples of the American John Cathcart who, as a captive in Algiers, became relatively wealthy by running taverns and who when freed, asked to be posted to North Africa; he thus became the USA's first consul in Tripoli in 1799 [6]. The American consul named that same year in Algiers, Richard O'Brien, had also been a slave there for ten years, whilst Simon Lucas, British consul in Tripoli, had been a captive in Morocco [7]. ' - pg. 198
- This was how it was. If you made enough money, you can free yourself and go back home. But as is stated, they don't want to go home. 'Cause evidently, it's a better life as a slave of the Muslims! -
- Even those who freed themselves, came back! They weren't traumatized or had nightmares about slavery simply because they weren't treated badly. They were not a free man under slavery, but they were treated with respect, respect that every human being deserves, that it didn't matter much not to be free.
- This amazes me very much. I didn't know such form exist! My whole picture of slavery has been so much of de-humanising and derogating a fellow human being. Just because he is considered the enemy. And this definition is what's been promoted and taught all over the world. And yet, this is never the correct definition for the word in Islam. In my own religion! My God, I didn't know this! Probably because of growing up in a secular education or probably because of what's constantly in mainstream media and probably also because of my own ignorance. MasyaAllah...Proud to be a Muslim! :)
' Thomas Smith recalled his captivity in Algiers as 'the happy time of my slavery', Francis Knight had 'an honest moral man' for a captor, and William Okeley was tempted not to escape to England, where there was civil unrest and poverty, but to stay instead with his captors who had gainfully employed him [8]. Joshua Gee recalled the generosity of one captor who share his food with him; Joseph Pitts was adopted by his last master, who treated him as his son [9]. Nash and Parker, two merchants, were captives in Sallee (Morocco) for four years, during which time they learned the language and the trade of the country, and then 'set up a House in Tetuan in the Year that the English quitted Tangier [1684], which House has continued ever since; and it is said those Gentlemen before they left Barbary got better fortunes in it, than they lost by being taken.[10] ' - pg.197
' More importantly, in Islam, the emancipated slave is actually, as well as potentially, equal to a free-born citizen. Throughout the Turkish empire, for instance, and at all periods in its history, slaves have risen repeatedly to the highest offices and have never been ashamed of their origins[11]. The Frenchman, About, notes how sultans of Constantinople and venerated chiefs of Islam are born to female slaves, and they are very proud [12]. Captain Burton mentions that Pacha of the Syrian caravan with which he travelled to Damascus had been the slave of a slave[13]. Sebuktegin, the father of Mahmud, the founder of the Ghaznavid dynasty, was a slave; so was Qutb-ud-din, the conqueror and the first king of Delhi, and the true founder, therefore of Muslim India[14]. Often, again, a great lord of Egypt raises, teaches and grooms a slave child, whom he marries later to his daughter, and gives him full rights; and we came across in Cairo stories of ministers, generals and magistrates of the highest order who were worth from a thousand to a thousand and a half franc in their youth[15]. '- pg. 213
' Under the Abbasid dynasty, only three Caliphs were born of free mothers, and all these belong to the eighth century.[16]' -pg.214
- Amazing, right! ;)
' Islam, as a faith, fought slavery (slavery in the Anglo-Saxon's definition i.e. dehumanisation of human beings) more than any faith ever did. The Prophet (peace be upon him) is reported to have said: 'The worst of men is the seller of men.'[17] Captives, if they become Muslims, were set free; and if they retained their own faith, they were, as the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) told the followers of Islam, nonetheless their brethren[18]. The master who treated them kindly would be acceptable to God; he who abused his power would be shut out of Paradise[19]. And the Muslim master who chastised his slave without cause was bound to set him free[20]. ' - pg. 211-212
' Today, the pictures of Western captives being decapitated in Iraq are indeed some of the most distressing, and most repelling, images that hurt the eyes and conscience. Whilst the terrible scenes of Muslim prisoners in Western captivity referred to above are equally repelling, the one thing to say is that the image of decapitation of Western prisoners is certainly at odds with Muslim traditions throughout history as seen above. The significant point to make in respect to these decapitations is that it seems odd that they are carried out by shadowy groups or individuals, who at once tell us who they are, and yet hide their faces.
It is equally odd that such gruesome killings by shadowy organizations are exhibited at length on web sites, which survive and thrive when other sites are instantly removed or destroyed for much less than that.
These killings also take place in a country torn by conflict, where most deaths are of decent politicians and leading figures, of imams, and of ordinary people, where the ultimate aim is to drag different religious communities to kill each other.
These beheadings also take place in a country where death squads, including the supposedly 'Muslim' beheaders, operate with total impunity, free to roam, pick up their victims, kill them, dump them, most often in the same spots, day after day, in complete freedom, and with the help of considerable logistics, completely unbothered checkpoints, patrols, etc. ' pg. 200-201
- It is very ironic, all these events. Most television viewers don't really care to think much. Everything shown on the TV is absorbed as is believed. Suicide bombings or kidnapping or hijacking has never been part of Muslim culture. The first suicide bombing in a Muslim land occured in Iraq only after the US invaded the country. If US never went to Iraq, there will never any suicide bombing. It's just not part of Muslim culture. Same with kidnapping. The kidnappers are covered from head to toe, wear masks or hide behind shadows. Logically, you don't know who they are. But, the media easily call them Muslim extremists. Really, these kind of things have never been a part of Islam. And as you can see throughout history, it has never been a part of Muslim history. When the crusaders invade al-Andalus, Spain, and killed thousands of people, no one blamed Christianity for the murders. Muslims have never looked at the values of Christianity as bad. It promotes love. We can differentiate a murderer who is a Christian from the religion itself. And we don't blame the religion. If you want to judge a religion, look at the best of its follower. If you want to judge Christianity, look at Jesus, what he did in life, what values he lived by. If you want to judge Islam, look at our Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h), see how he lived his life, and see his characters.
Slavery is probably an old issue and is irrelevant for discussion nowadays. But, the best lessons that I can take from those paragraphs above, is:
Islam is so beautiful! :)
-> Since reading this book, I've discovered so many things that I should be proud of as a Muslims. Sometimes, being a borned-Muslim, you don't realize what you have until someone else point it out to you. I've been so used to the daily rituals of praying (solat), and fasting in Ramadhan, then, wearing the hijab and so on and so on that the joy and beauty of being a Muslim escapes me. Islam has a lot to offer to the world. Some may see it as stringent or full of harams and halals, but once you realized why it is there, it becomes so joyful and beautiful.
As I've said in the first part of this book review, I've never realized the value of community-life that Islam had before reading this book. MasyaAllah, there is a hidden beauty in why God ask for zakat to be given, for zina to be prohibited, for husbands to be the main breadwinner and mothers to be caring to their children.
This is one of the reason I like watching videos of converts/reverts. They speak so exuberantly about Islam. Like a kid who got his most desired toy for his birthday. Shining and beaming and talking non-stop about it.
I remember watching this one guy, Jeffrey Lang (a former atheist). He was talking about his first year as a Muslim. How he enjoyed so much his prayers (solat). How he felt so loved that God want to talk with him 5 times a day. And how he loved going to the mosque. Even though he understood none of Arabic, he just loved listening to the words of the Quran recited. One guy asked him : Dr. Lang, why do you come so often when you don't even understand the language? His answer was beautiful... He answered...: Sir.., why is a baby comforted when he hears his mother's voice? :)
Another guy, Sheikh Abdul Hakim Murad was asked : Sir, why did you become a Muslim? His answer was short and sweet :) : Because Allah thought I needed some help... :)
Subhanallah....
Alright...Take care everyone..! ;)
[1] E. Webbe : The Rare and Most Wonderful Things...Edited by E. Arber, (London; Alex Murray and Son; 1868);p.27
[2] C. Lloyd: English Corsairs on the Barbary Coast; op cit; p.115
[3] S. Bono: I Corsari barbaresch: op cit; p.115
[4] M. Morsy: North Africa 1800-1900; op cit; p.66
[5] P. Earle: Corsairs of Malta and Barbary; p.91
[6] M. Morsy: North Africa 1800-1900; op cit; p.66
[7] Ibid.
[8] N. Matar: Introduction; op cit; p.19
[9] Ibid. p.20
[10] Captain Braithwaite: The History of the Revolutions in the Empire of Morocco; London;1729;p.67
[11] R.B. Smith: Mohammed; op cit; p.293
[12] G. Le Bon : La Civilisation des Arabes, op cit; p.293
[13] Burton: Pilgrimage, I.p.89 in R. B. Smith: Mohammed: p.251
[14] Elphinstones's India; p.320; 363; 370; in R. B. Smith: Mohammed: p.251
[15] G. Le Bon : La Civilisation des Arabes, op cit; p.293
[16] G.E. Von Grunebaum: Medieval Islam, op cit; p.202
[17] R.B. Smith: Mohammed; op cit; p.330
[18] Ibid.; p.244
[19] Ibid.
[20] Ibid; p.245
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