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

Islamic JihadBattutah had bought one beautiful slave girl for one gold coin (ten tankhas) in Bengal, while his friend hadbought a young slave for two gold coins.As Muslim sultans started indulging in the life of debauchery and created huge harems byaccumulating concubines in their thousands, plus numerous ghilmans, ‘‘demands for beautiful girls andbeardless boys made them a scarce commodity, and their prices rose to 500 tankhas and sometimes even toone thousand and two thousand tankhas,’’ records Barani. Al-Omari testifies that ‘‘in spite of low price ofslaves, 2,000 tankhas, and even more, are paid for young Indian girls.’’ When asked for the reason, he wastold that ‘‘these young girls are remarkable for their beauty and the grace of their manner.’’Slaves from foreign lands, considered talented and articles of luxury, were in high demand andflowed into Indian markets. Both male and female slaves of foreign origin were bought at higher prices forengaging them in special duties: in important position in the army, in concubinage or for keeping watch on theharem women. Aurangzeb had bought Tartar and Uzbek women as harem-guards because of their war-likenature and skills, while an eastern European woman was his sex-slave. Sultan Qutbuddin Aibak hadpurchased two accomplished Turkish slaves for 100,000 jitals (2,000 tankhas), while Sultan Iltutmishpurchased one Qamaruddin Timur Khan for 50,000 jitals. 861Over in Morocco, Sultan Moulay Ismail bought Thomas Pellow and his crewmates in 1715 fromtheir corsair captor at £15 apiece. However, in open markets, common white slaves were priced between £30and £35, while young boys were sold at £40 apiece. The older and weaker men were sold at lower prices.Jewish traders sometimes raised the price, from £15 to £75 for a captive on one occasion. 862 Some sevendecades earlier (1646), when the British government sent merchant Edmund Cason to Algiers to buy backBritish captives held at the sultan’s palace, he paid £38 per male slave. 863 But releasing the female slavesproved extremely expensive. He paid £800 for Sarah Ripley, £1,100 for Alice Hayes and £1,392 for MaryBruster. 864 The prices of black slaves, always abundant in supply, were much lower. Around 1680, Europeanslave-traders at the Gambian coast bought young black slaves at £3.4 apiece, while the inland slave-dealersbought them for between £1 and £3 each, depending on the distance from the coast. 865Cross-border slave-trade: Slave-trade was a prominent business enterprise all over the Islamic world. Apartfrom India, North Africa, the Middle East (Baghdad and Damascus) as well as Khurasan, Ghazni andSamarkhand in Central Asia were prominent centres of slave-trade. Emperor Babur (d. 1530) noted of twomajor trade-marts in Kabul and Qandahar, where caravans from India brought slaves. To Kabul, similarcaravans came from Khurasan, Rum (Istanbul), Iraq and China.Merchants from Islamic Turkey, Syria, Persia and Transoxiana used to offer consignments of slavesto Muslim rulers of India. Indian Muslim rulers also sent merchants overseas for purchasing foreign slaves, atreasured commodity. Sultan Iltutmish once sent merchants to Samarkhand, Bukhara and Tirmiz to buyforeign slaves. They brought 100 slaves for the sultan, including famous Balban, who seized power in 1265.Slaves were coming to India from Uzbekistan and Tataristan. The Muslim rulers of India used to purchaseforeign slaves in large numbers for their placement in important positions, including in the army, likely toavert indigenous uprisings. Even Akbar’s Court, first to open doors to the employment of Hindus, waspredominantly foreign. His Minister Abul Fazl records that nearly 70 percent of the royal appointments by861. Lal (1994), p. 130–35862. Milton, p. 69–70, 77863. At this time, an ordinary London shopkeeper earned £10 a year, while wealthy merchants made £40 at best.864. Milton, p. 27865. Curtin PD (1993) The Tropical Atlantic of the Slave Trade in Islamic & European Expansion, in Adas M Ed., p.174243