Black Spirituality Religion : The Arab Slave Trade

[Omowale Jabali]

No brother. But, before we go on: As-Salam Alaikum. It is good to see you agin after so long.

But, no. I do not think you can prove any such thing as "Arab imperialism" anywhere in the world, much less Africa. (True, Muslim controlled Spain fro centuries as w ay to bring Europe out of the Dark Ages. But, I would not call that "Arab Imperialism".) Brother, you must bring yourself to undersatnd one crucial fact: what we know as imperialism and as slavery in the west is unique in history. Only westen Europeans are gulity of this. That, as I see it, is very good news to Africans because it means that we have potential friends throughout most of the remaining world.

Let me try to explain. Take China, for instance. That is 25% of the worldd' population. But, China has never enslaved Africans and has never had any "imperialism" in Africa. Therefore, as I see it, China is much preferable in Africa than say, UK which did enslave Africans and did colonize Africa. Add India to the mix and you have over half of the world's population. These are potential friends to Africans.

Likewise, the Arabs have NEVER had any "imperialism" in Africa. True, they did have African slaves along with Arab slaves and a lot, a huge percantage, of Asian slaves. This is why we do not see many descendants of African slaves in Arabia: the slaves were mostly Asians who assimilated into Arab society rather easily. Many, if not most, of the African slaves involved were imported from Europe by way of Greek and Roman domination of North Africa. See my point? So, Arabs are natural allies and friends of Africans for this reason alone. It is simply absolutely wrong to try to focaus on an alleged Arab oppression of Africans by Arabs. That is not true.

What interests me about those who claim that Arabs are our enemies is the same people almost never deal with the simple fact that Europeans enslaved the vast majority of Africans. So, attention is diverted away from the true enemy in order to chase after hearsay, chase after a mirage, "Arab imperialism". No.

It is not my responsibility to prove what is established fact. I mentioned the account of the Oromo in Ethiopia, an account which even the Ethiopian government and the United Nations have recognized. Not a matter of hearsay.

Furthermore, I have not asserted or made any reference to "enemies" so please don't take my post out of context. I am speaking/writing from a historical perspective, not religious or ideological. And if you actually read my post I did mention the Portuguese and Dutch intrusion into East Africa but there is so much evidence concerning the Arab and Persian involvement in the East African slave trade its foolish to attempt refutation.

In fact, have you read any books such as "White Slaves, African Masters"?

Africans held many whites in captivity prior to 1492.

 

[Omowale Jabali]

It is not my responsibility to prove what is established fact. I mentioned the account of the Oromo in Ethiopia, an account which even the Ethiopian government and the United Nations have recognized. Not a matter of hearsay.

Furthermore, I have not asserted or made any reference to "enemies" so please don't take my post out of context. I am speaking/writing from a historical perspective, not religious or ideological. And if you actually read my post I did mention the Portuguese and Dutch intrusion into East Africa but there is so much evidence concerning the Arab and Persian involvement in the East African slave trade its foolish to attempt refutation.

In fact, have you read any books such as "White Slaves, African Masters"?

Africans held many whites in captivity prior to 1492.

The most paralyzing thing one has to consider in the history of this unfortunate affairs is, the depth and intensity of the slave commerce that went on in Ethiopia, literally century in and century out, which has left a great insecurity over those who were its victims be it the Oromo, the Wolayta, or the Benshangul. And although they, at the present moment, by definition, are the majority of today's Ethiopia, in reality, they still are at the mercy of the descendants of the Abyssinian slaveholders, principally the Amhara and their Tigrean cohorts. The chilling tragedy about these people that one is forced to face in reading the history of the Ethiopian slave trade is, how humans were treated as if they were herds of animals. As historian Mordechai Abir recounted, those who were caught by slave traders


"were examined like cattle by their purchasers, the sullen Shankela (Abyssinian's pejorative name given to any person with black face) fetches a price proportioned to the muscular appearance of his or her giant frame; and the child of tender years is valued according to the promise of future development. Even the shame faced and the slender-clad maiden is subjected to every known indignity, whilst the price of her charms is estimated according to the regularity of her features, the symmetry of her budding form, and the luxuriance of her braided locks."
(M. Abir, page 61)
What is not known to the Western world and where Ethiopian intellectuals like Wondimu do not want to talk about it is the fact that "Ethiopia has always been known for its slaves who were much sought after in the Islamic world". As Abir pointed out (see page 53)


"the most important item in the foreign trade Ethiopia had for years was the exportation of slaves."
"This can easily be proved," asserted Mr. Abir,


"by the hoards of thalers in the treasuries of some of the rulers of the Ethiopian plateau"
which, I am forced to add, were mainly Wondimu's forbearers, the Amhara and the Tigreans. Abir went on to say that,


"the HABASHA slaves, as Ethiopian slaves were commonly called by slave merchants, were not actually Ethiopians in the strict meaning of the Amhara and the Tigreans, as they came mainly from the Galla (a pejorative name the Amhara gave to the indigenous Oromos) and the Sidama areas in southern and western Ethiopia and to lesser extent the Shanqella areas that surrounds Ethiopia's proper."
The Majority of slaves that were sold in Ethiopia were females (according to Abir, it was A 2 to 1 ratio) where they were much sought after in the conquest of sexual libido by men of the Arab-Turkish empire. This was even more exacerbated after the Russians conquered the Caucasus where traditionally was the source area for white slave girls. When the Caucasus slave trade dried up "Ethiopian slave girls took the first place in the slave market of the Arab world."(See Abir, page 54) The most unfortunate girls were the Gurage girls for, next to the Caucasus girls, the slave merchants found them easily saleable and hence they achieve a higher price as they were called "red Ethiopians."
http://dodona.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=history&action=print&thread=10110

 

[Omowale Jabali]

"between 640 and 1900 AD, resulted in Arab invaders conquering, settling and controlling more than 1/3 of Africa, namely supra-Sahara Africa and the Sahel zone, including most of the Nile Valley. In those same centuries, Arabs captured, exported and enslaved millions of Black Africans. Today Arabism manifests in the conflicts in the borderlands [Mauritania to Sudan] between Black Africans and the Arab settlers. Arabism’s aggression against Black Africa is most in the news today as the Darfur Crisis, and the so-called civil war—actually an Afro-Arab race war-- between South Sudan’s black Africans and the Arab-minority regime in Khartoum."

~Chinweizu

http://www.hollerafrica.com/showArticle.php?catId=1&artId=195

 

[abdurratln]

It is not my responsibility to prove what is established fact.

"Established fact" ain't worth three red beans without evidence to support it. Without evidence, it is only hearsay.

I mentioned the account of the Oromo in Ethiopia, an account which even the Ethiopian government

Which Ehtuiopian government? The Menguistu regime who murdered his own people by the millions? The current Uncle Tom regime who take its orders from tel Aviv, DC and London? Tjhe last legitmate government of Ehtiopia was that of Haille Selassie. Are you refrring to His Imperial majesty? I do not think so. So, that leaves the Uncle Tom regimes. Take those Unlce Tom regimes and shove them.

and the United Nations have recognized. Not a matter of hearsay.

The United United that takes orders from War Criminlas like bush and cheney? Get real.

Furthermore, I have not asserted or made any reference to "enemies" so please don't take my post out of context. I am speaking/writing from a historical perspective, not religious or ideological.

What kind of history is it that is based exclusively on lying, prejudice and one-sided secondary sources?

And if you actually read my post I did mention the Portuguese and Dutch intrusion into East Africa but there is so much evidence concerning the Arab and Persian involvement in the East African slave trade its foolish to attempt refutation.

Nobody refute that just about everybody has been involved in the slave trade in one way or another. But, that is not the issue here. The issue here is the Trans-Atalantic slavetrade brcause it is the ONLY ONE in hisotry that rises to the level of crimes agaist humanity and of a holocaust.

In fact, have you read any books such as "White Slaves, African Masters"?

Africans held many whites in captivity prior to 1492.

Just deal with the issue.

 

[abdurratln]

"between 640 and 1900 AD, resulted in Arab invaders conquering, settling and controlling more than 1/3 of Africa, namely supra-Sahara Africa and the Sahel zone, including most of the Nile Valley. In those same centuries, Arabs captured, exported and enslaved millions of Black Africans. Today Arabism manifests in the conflicts in the borderlands [Mauritania to Sudan] between Black Africans and the Arab settlers. Arabism’s aggression against Black Africa is most in the news today as the Darfur Crisis, and the so-called civil war—actually an Afro-Arab race war-- between South Sudan’s black Africans and the Arab-minority regime in Khartoum."

~Chinweizu

http://www.hollerafrica.com/showArticle.php?catId=1&artId=195

Man, please.... Chinweizu? You gotta be kidding. Chinweizu is an idiot and a fool on top of it.