islamic-jihad-legacy-of-forced-conversion-imperialism-slavery

Islamic SlaveryIt is noted already that there was widespread castration of slaves in Bengal during Mughal EmperorJahangir, which had become a widespread practice across India. It appears that since Bakhtiyar Khilji’sconquest of Bengal in 1205, it had become a leading source of enslavement and castration for supplyingeunuchs. On his way back to Venice from Kublai Khan’s Court, Marco Polo visited India in the late thirteenthcentury; he found Bengal as a major source of eunuchs. Duarte Barbosa in the late sultanate period (1206–1526) and Francois Pyrard in the Mughal period (1526–1799) also found Bengal as the leading supplier ofcastrated slaves. Ain-i-Akbari (compiled 1590s) also affirms the same. 851 Some 22,000 individuals wereemasculated in 1659 in Golkunda during Aurangzeb. Said Khan Chaghtai of Jahangir’s reign owned 1,200eunuchs. Even kind-hearted Akbar employed eunuchs in large numbers. According to Ain-i-Akbari, Akbar’sharem ‘contained 5,000 ladies, each of whom had separate apartments… watched in successive circles byfemale guards, eunuchs, Rajputs and the porters at the gates…’ 852Sultan Alauddin Khilji had engaged 50,000 young boys in his personal services, while MuhammadTughlaq had 20,000 and Firoz Tughlaq 40,000. Many, if not most, of these slave-boys were likely castrated.Even Malik Kafur, Alauddin’s famous commander, was a eunuch. Khusrau Khan, Sultan Kutbuddin MubarakKhilji’s favorite commander, who killed the sultan in 1320 and occupied the throne briefly, was a eunuch too.Medieval Muslim historians—namely Muhammad Ferishtah, Khondamir, Minhaj Siraj and Ziauddin Baraniet al., have recorded stories of infatuation of other illustrious sultans, namely Mahmud Ghazni, QutbuddinAibak and Sikandar Lodi—for handsome young boys. Sikandar Lodi had once boasted, ‘If I order one of myslaves to be seated in a palanquin, 853 the entire body of nobility would carry him on their shoulders at mybidding.’ 854 Sultan Mahmud had infatuation toward charming Tilak the Hindu, his favorite commander. 855Castration of male captives was performed on an unprecedented scale in order to meet the demand ofeunuchs in the Muslim world. It was Muslims, who inaugurated the practice of castrating male slaves on agrand scale. Most of the male slaves of the Muslim world—particularly, those captured in Africa—werecastrated. While eleven million African slaves were transported to the New World (West Indies andAmericas) during the 350-year trans-Atlantic slave-trade, a larger number of them ended up in the MiddleEast, North Africa, Central Asia, India, Islamic Spain and Ottoman Europe during the thirteen centuries ofIslamic domination. However, if compared the Diaspora left by black slaves in the New World with that in theIslamic world, it becomes evident that the overwhelming majority of the black slaves of the Islamic worldwere castrated; therefore, they failed to leave a notable Diaspora behind.The fate of the millions of European, Indian, Central Asian and Middle Eastern infidels—reduced towearing the shackles of Islamic slavery—might not have been much different. Marco Polo (1280s) and DuarteBarbosa (1500s) witnessed large-scale castrations in India; the same was occurring in the reign of Abkar (d.1605), Jahangir (d. 1628) and Aurangzeb (d. 1707). Castration, therefore, was a common practice in Indiathroughout the Muslim rule. It might have contributed to some extent to the decrease in India’s populationfrom about 200 million in 1000 CE to 170 million in 1500 CE (discussed earlier).851. Moreland, p. 93, note 1852. Ibid, p. 87–88853. Palanquins were used for carrying the women, especially the newly married brides, in medieval India.854. Lal (1994), p. 106–09855. Elliot & Dawson, Vol. II, p. 127–29240