Slavery had existed among Arab peoples since before the rise of Mohammed as a prophet and the spread of Islam as a religion and a model of civilization. However, it was from the moment the Arabs became Islamic, when they were converted by Muhammad, in the 7th century, and began to expand their domains across the Arabian Peninsula, Eastern Europe, the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa that practice gives slavery became broader and more notorious in the worldMuslim.
The practice of slavery among the Arab peoples took place, initially, through a mechanism that was common since antiquity: peoples defeated in wars, who had their properties plundered, were taken as slaves. Gradually, slavery came to be justified on the foundations of Islam. Christians, Caucasians, Franks, blacks from the sub-Saharan region of Africa and several other peoples were made of slaves for not share the Muslim belief, being considered either idolaters (idol worshipers) or infidels (as the Christians).
Enslaved men served as a workforce in several areas. They worked both in the countryside (managing agricultural crops and grazing animals) and in the city (in places such as craft workshops, on the streets, in palaces and harems, and in homes). Urban services ranged from the most humiliating to the ranks of high officials, such as the post of
vizier (the one who was delegated political power over a certain region at the behest of a Muslim sovereign).Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
Boys and young adults were kidnapped in wars and given military training and incorporated into the army. Depending on their origins and their willingness to convert to Islam, they were freed, becoming clients of their former owners. The only ones who did not share this possibility of ascension were black slaves from sub-Saharan Africa, who fed the slave trade also undertaken by the Berbers.
Women and girls were also abducted, but for the purpose of learning to dance, play musical instruments and develop the skills needed to live in the sultans' harems. There were also castrated men, who were bought to serve as eunuchs (auxiliaries to women in harems). As castration was prohibited among Muslims, they were willing to pay high prices for eunuchs, who were sold by other peoples who captured and castrated men, especially in the East European.
A famous example of a Christian European enslaved by Muslims was Miguel de Cervantes, author of the work SunQuixote, who was arrested at the Battle of Lepanto in 1570. It is speculated that, throughout the existence of Muslim empires, more than 15 million people have been enslaved.
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
FERNANDES, Claudio. "Slavery in the Muslim World"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiag/escravidao-no-mundo-muculmano.htm. Accessed on July 27, 2021.