Racism Against Black People
Jabir (Allah be pleased with him) reported: There came a slave and pledg- ed allegiance to Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) on migration; he (the Holy Prophet) did not know that he was a slave. Then there came his master and demanded him back, whereupon Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) said:
Sell him to me. And he bought him for two black slaves, and he did not afterwards take allegiance from anyone until he had asked him whether he was a slave (or a free man)
'Ubaidullah b. Abu Rafi', the freed slave of the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him), said: When Haruria (the Khwarij) set out and as he was with 'Ali b. Abu Talib (Allah be pleased with him) they said," There is no command but that of Allah." Upon this 'Ali said: The statement is true but it is intentionally applied (to support) a wrong (cause). The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him described their characteristics and I found these characteristics in them. They state the truth with their tongue, but it does not go beyond this part of their bodies (and the narrator pointed towards his throat).
The most hateful among the creation of Allah us one black man among them (Khwarij). One of his hand is like the teat of a goat or the nipple of the breast. When 'Ali b. Abu Talib (Allah be pleased with him) killed them, he said: Search (for his dead body). They searched for him, but they did not find it (his dead body). Upon this he said: Go (and search for him). By Allah, neither I have spoken a lie nor has the lie been spoken to me. 'Ali said this twice and thrice. They then found him (the dead body) in a rain. They brought (his dead) body till they placed it before him (Hadrat 'Ali). 'Ubaidullah said: And, I was present at (that place) when this happened and when 'Ali said about them. A person narrated to me from Ibn Hanain that he said: I saw that black man.
Shem, the son of Noah was the father of the Arabs, the Persians, and the Greeks; Ham was the father of the Black Africans; and Japheth was the father of the Turks and of Gog and Magog who were cousins of the Turks. Noah prayed that the prophets and apostles would be descended from Shem and kings would be from Japheth.
He prayed that the African’s color would change so that their descendants would be slaves to the Arabs and Turks.
Ham [Africans] begat all those who are black and curly-haired, while Japheth [Turks] begat all those who are full-faced with small eyes, and Shem [Arabs] begat everyone who is handsome of face with beautiful hair. Noah prayed that the hair of Ham’s descendants would not grow beyond their ears, and that whenever his descendants met Shem’s,
the latter would enslave them.
A man of B. al-'Ajilan told me that he was told that Gabriel came to the apostle and said, '
There comes to sit with you a black man with long flowing hair, ruddy cheeks, and inflamed eyes like two copper pots. His heart is more gross than a donkey's; he carries your words to the hypocrites, so beware of him.' This, so they say, was the description of Nabtal.
[3] Ishaq:243
"I have heard the Apostle say: '
Whoever wants to see Satan should look at Nabtal.' He was a sturdy black man with long flowing hair, inflamed eyes, and dark ruddy cheeks. He used to come and talk with the Prophet and listen to him. He would carry what he had said to the hypocrites. Nabtal said, 'Muhammad is all ears. If anyone tells him something he believes it.' Allah sent down concerning him: 'To those who annoy the Prophet and say that he is all ears, say, 'Good ears for you.' For those who annoy the Apostle there is a painful punishment."
[3] Ishaq:243
It is your folly to fight the Apostle, for Allah’s army is bound to disgrace you. We brought them to the pit. Hell was their meeting place.
We collected them there, black slaves, men of no descent. Ishaq:450
The black troops and slaves of the Meccans cried out and the Muslims replied, ‘Allah destroy your sight, you impious rascals.’
Ishaq:374
"Abu Darda reported that the Holy Prophet said: Allah created Adam when he created him (sic). Then He stroke (sic) his right shoulder and took out a white race as if they were seeds, and He stroke (sic) his left shoulder and took out a black race as if they were coals. Then He said to those who were in his right side: Towards paradise and I don't care. He said to those who were on his left shoulder: Towards Hell and I don't care. - Ahmad"
Mishkat, Vol. 3, p. 117.
Al-Tirmidhi No. 38 (CD-ROM), Alim.org (
Archived).
Ahmad ibn Abi Sulayman, the companion of Sahnun said, “Anyone who says that the Prophet was black should be killed.
Ibn Musa al-Yahsubi, Qadi ‘Iyad, p.375
"Ham [Africans] begat all those who are black and curly-haired, while Japheth [Turks] begat all those who are full-faced with small eyes, and Shem [Arabs] begat everyone who is handsome of face with beautiful hair. Noah prayed that the hair of Ham's descendants would not grow beyond their ears, and that whenever his descendants met Shem's, the latter would enslave them."
"Shem, the son of Noah was the father of the Arabs, the Persians, and the Greeks; Ham was the father of the Black Africans; and Japheth was the father of the Turks and of Gog and Magog who were cousins of the Turks. Noah prayed that the prophets and apostles would be descended from Shem and kings would be from Japheth.
He prayed that the African's color would change so that their descendants would be slaves to the Arabs and Turks."
Narrated 'Abdullah: The Prophet said, "I saw (in a dream) a black woman with unkempt hair going out of Medina and settling at Mahai'a, i.e., Al-Juhfa. I interpreted that as a symbol of epidemic of Medina being transferred to that place (Al-Juhfa)."
Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Umar:
concerning the dream of the Prophet in Medina: The Prophet said, "I saw (in a dream) a black woman with unkempt hair going out of Medina and settling at Mahai'a. I interpreted that as (a symbol of) the epidemic of Medina being transferred to Mahai'a, namely, Al-Juhfa."
Narrated Salim's father:
The Prophet said, "I saw (in a dream) a black woman with unkempt hair going out of Medina and settling in Mahai'a. I interpreted that as (a symbol of) epidemic of Medina being transferred to Mahai'a, namely, Al-Juhfa."
Islamic Writers and Scholars on Black People
Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) was, among other things, an Islamic jurist, Islamic lawyer, Islamic scholar, Islamic theologian, and hafiz
"Therefore, the Negro nation are, as a rule, submissive to slavery, because [Negroes] have little [that is essentially] human and have attributes that are quite similar to those of dumb animals, as we have stated."
[4] Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah, 14th century
"beyond [known peoples of black West Africa] to the south there is no civilization in the proper sense. There are only humans who are closer to dumb animals than to rational beings. They live in thickets and caves, and eat herbs and unprepared grain. They frequently eat each other. They cannot be considered human beings."
[4] Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah
Ibn Sina or Avicenna (980-1037), was, among other things, a Hafiz, Islamic psychologist, Islamic scholar, and Islamic theologian - many said.
[Blacks are] people who are by their very nature slaves.
[5] Quoted in “Blasphemy Before God: The Darkness of Racism In Muslim Culture” by Adam Misbah aI-Haqq
Ibn Qutaybah (828-889), was a renowned Islamic scholar from Kufa, Iraq
They [the Zanj, that is, blacks] are ugly and misshapen, because they live in a hot country. The heat overcrooks them in the womb, and curls their hair.
Bernard Lewis, "Ventures in Ethnology", Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry, Oxford University Press, pp. 43-50, ISBN 978-0-19-506283-0, 1990
Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī (1201-1274), was a Shia Muslim Scholar and Grand Ayatollah
"If (all types of men) are taken, from the first, and one placed after another, like the Negro from Zanzibar, in the Southern-most countries, the Negro does not differ from an animal in anything except the fact that his hands have been lifted from the earth -in no other peculiarity or property - except for what God wished. Many have seen that the ape is more capable of being trained than the Negro, and more intelligent."
[4] Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Tasawwurat (Rawdat al-taslim):
[The Zanj (African) differ from animals only in that] their two hands are lifted above the ground,... Many have observed that the ape is more teachable and more intelligent than the Zanj.
[5]
Al-Muqaddasi (945/946-1000) was a medieval Muslim geographer
"Of the neighbors of the Bujja, Maqdisi had heard that "there is no marriage among them; the child does not know his father, and they eat people -- but God knows best. As for the Zanj, they are people of black color, flat noses, kinky hair, and little understanding or intelligence."
[4] Al-Muqaddasi (fl. 966), Kitab al-Bad' wah-tarikh, vol.4
Al-Masudi (896-956), was a Muslim historian and geographer, known as the "Herodotus of the Arabs."[6]
"Galen says that merriment dominates the black man because of his defective brain, whence also the weakness of his intelligence."
[4] Al-Masudi, Muruj al-dhahab
“[quoting another source in agreement:] Do not intermarry with the sons of Ham [blacks] for they are the distorted among God’s creatures . . .”
Bernard Lewis, "Equality and Marriage", Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry, Oxford University Press, pp. 85-92, ISBN 978-0-19-506283-0, 1990 [The Zanj have:] black complexion, kinky hair, flat nose[s], thick lips, slender hands and feet, fetid odor, limited intelligence, extreme exuberance, [and] cannibalistic customs.
Alexandre Popovic, The Revolt of African Slaves in Iraq in the 3rd/9th Century, Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener, p. 16, 1999
Ibn al-Faqih (9th century) was a Muslim historian and geographer
"A man of discernment said: The people of Iraq ... do not come out with something between blonde, buff and blanched coloring, such as the infants dropped from the wombs of the women of the Slavs and others of similar light complexion; nor are they overdone in the womb until they are burned, so that the child comes out something between black, murky, malodorous, stinking, and crinkly-haired, with uneven limbs, deficient minds, and depraved passions, such as the Zanj, the Somali, and other blacks who resemble them. The Iraqis are neither half-baked dough nor burned crust but between the two."
[4] Ibn al-Faqih al-Hamadani, Mukhtasar Kitab al-Buldan, 903 AD
Abu Rayhan al-Biruni (973-1048), was an Islamic scholar and polymath
"The Zanj are so uncivilized that they have no notion of a natural death. If a man dies a natural death, they think he was poisoned. Every death is suspicious with them, if a man has not been killed by a weapon."
[4] Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, India, 1030 AD
Hudud al-`Alam is a book dedicated to Abu l-Ḥārith Muḥammad b. Aḥmad, a ruler of the local Farighunid dynasty.
"Their [Zanj] nature is that of wild animals. They are extremely black." "Among themselves [the Sudan] there are people who steal each other's children and sell them to the merchants when the latter arrive."
[4] Hudud al-`Alam, 982 AD
"[inhabitants of sub-Saharan African countries] are people distant from the standards of humanity" "Their nature is that of wild animals..."
[4] Hudud al-`alam, 982 AD
"As regards southern countries, all their inhabitants are black on account of the heat of their climate... Most of them go naked... In all their lands and provinces, gold is found.... They are people distant from the standards of humanity."
[4] Hudud al-`Alam, 982 AD
Al Jahiz (781–869), was a famous Muslim scholar
"Like the crow among mankind are the Zanj [African Blacks] for they are the worst of men and the most vicious of creatures in character and temperament."
[4] Jahiz, Kitab al-Hayawan, vol. 2
"We know that the Zanj (blacks) are the least intelligent and the least discerning of mankind, and the least capable of understanding the consequences of actions."
[4] Jahiz, Kitab al-Bukhala (The Book of Misers)
"They [the Shu`ubiyya] maintain that eloquence is prized by all people at all times - even the Zanj, despite their dimness, their boundless stupidity, their obtuseness, their crude perceptions and their evil dispositions, make long speeches."
[4] Jahiz, Al-Bayan wa`l-tabyin, vol. 3
Ibn Abi Zayd (922–996), was a Maliki scholar from Al-Qayrawan in Tunisia.
It is disliked to trade in the land of the enemy or the land of the blacks. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "Travel is a portion of punishment."
[7] al-Ibshihi (1388–1446), Egyptian scholar who wrote an encyclopedia covering Islamic law, theology, mysticism, and some other topics.
Is there anything more vile than black slaves, of less good and more evil than they'? As for the mulatto, if you show kindness to one of them all your life and in every way, he will not be grateful; and it will be as if you had done nothing for him. The better you treat him, the more insolent he will he; the worse you treat him, the more humble and submissive. I have tried this many times, and how well the poet says: ‘If you honor the honorable you possess him / If you honor the ignoble, he will be insolent.’ It is said that when the [black] slave is sated, he fornicates, when he is hungry, he steals. My grandfather on my mother's side used to say: The worst use of money is bringing up slaves, and mulattoes are even worse and wickeder than Zanj, for the mulatto does not know his father, while the Zanji often knows both parents. It is said of the mulatto that he is like a mule, because he is a mongrel. . . . Do not trust a mulatto, for there is rarely any good in him
Shihab al-Din al-Ibshihi, al-Mustatraf fi Kul Fan Mustatraf, al-Maktaba al-Shamila, p. 328, https://app.turath.io/book/23802 ; translated in
Bernard Lewis, "Image and Stereotype", Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry, Oxford University Press, pp. 92-99, ISBN 978-0-19-506283-0, 1990
Shams al-Dīn Muhammad b. Abī Talib al-Dimashqī (1256-1327), Damascene Imam who wrote on many topics.
The equatorial region is inhabited by communities of blacks who are to be numbered among the savages and beasts. Their complexions and hair are burnt and they are physically and morally deviant. Their brains almost boil from the sun's excessive heat.. . . The human being who dwells there is a crude fellow, with a very black complexion, and burnt hair, unruly, with stinking sweat, and an abnormal constitution, most closely resembling in his moral qualities a savage, or animals.
A. Mehren, ed, (1923), Nukhbat al-Dahr fi Ajaib al-Barr wal-Bahr, Leipzig: Harassowitz, pp. 15-17, 1923 ; translated in John Hunwick, West Africa, Islam, and the Arab World, Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener, p. 81, 2006
Ibn Battuta (1304-1369) Muslim scholar and traveler who wrote about his journeys across the world.
[Writing about West Africans:] When I saw it [their reception gift] I laughed, and was long astonished at their feeble intellect and their respect for mean things.
Ibn Battuta in J.F.P. Hopkins; Nehemia Levtzion, eds, (1981), Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History, Cambridge University Press, p. 298, 1981
Al-Idrisi (1100-1165), Muslim geographer, writer, scientist, cartographer from Almoravid Spain.
[The Zanj, that is, blacks] are in great fear and awe of the Arabs, so much so that when they see an Arab trader or traveler they bow down and treat him with great respect [such that the Arab can] lure them with dates, and lead them from place to place, until they seize them, take them out of the country, and transport them to their own countries . . . [They] lack of knowledge and [have] defective minds . . .
Bernard Lewis, "The Discovery of Africa", Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry, Oxford University Press, pp. 50-54, ISBN 978-0-19-506283-0, 1990
Said al-Andalusi (1029-1070) was an Arab qadhi (Islamic judge) living in al-Andalus, Spain who wrote on the history of science and philosophy.
[The southern ‘barbarians’] are more like beasts than like men . . . For those who live furthest to the north between the last of the seven climates and the limits of the inhabited world, the excessive distance of the sun in relation to the zenith line makes the air cold and the atmosphere thick. Their temperaments are therefore frigid, their humors raw, their bellies gross, their color pale, their hair long and lank. Thus they lack keenness of understanding and clarity of intelligence, and are overcome by ignorance and dullness, lack of discernment, and stupidity. Such are the Slavs, the Bulgars, and their neighbors. For those peoples on the other hand who live near and beyond the equinoctial line to the limit of the inhabited world in the south, the long presence of the sun at the zenith makes the air hot and the atmosphere thin. Because of this their temperaments become hot and their humors fiery, their color black and their hair woolly. Thus they lack self-control and steadiness of mind and are overcome by fickleness, foolishness, and ignorance. Such are the blacks, who live at the extremity of the land of Ethiopia, the Nubians, the Zanj and the like. . . . [they are the only people] who diverge from this human order and depart from this rational association are some dwellers in the steppes and inhabitants of the deserts and wilderness, such as the rabble of Bujja, the savages of Ghana, the scum of the Zanj, and their like.
Bernard Lewis, "Ventures in Ethnology", Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry, Oxford University Press, pp. 43-50, ISBN 978-0-19-506283-0, 1990 Ibn Hazm (994-1064) was an Andalusian polymath who wrote on history, Islamic law, Islamic theology, philosophy, and is especially well regarded for his study of the hadiths.
God has decreed that the most devout is the noblest even if he be a Negress’s bastard, and that the sinner and unbeliever is at the lowest level even if he be the son of prophets.
Bernard Lewis, "Prejudice and Piety, Literature and Law", Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry, Oxford University Press, pp. 28-37, ISBN 978-0-19-506283-0, 1990
al-Kirmani (996-1021) was a famous Persian Ismaili theologian and philosopher.
In a philosophical work, he dismisses "the Turks, Zanj, Berbers, and their like" as "by their nature" without interest in the pursuit of intellectual knowledge and without desire to understand religious truth.
Bernard Lewis, "In Black and White", Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry, Oxford University Press, pp. 54-62, ISBN 978-0-19-506283-0, 1990
al-Mutannabi (915-965) was a famous Abbasid court poet from Iraq and one of the most influential poets in the history of Arabic.
The slave is no brother to the godly freeman. / even though he be born in the clothes of the free. // Do not buy a slave without buying a stick with him, / for slaves are filthy and scant of good. // I never thought I should live to see the day when a / dog would do me evil and be praised in the bargain, // nor did I imagin that true men would have ceased to exist, / and that the like of the father of bounty, / would still be here, // and that that negro with his pierced camel’s lip / would be obeyed by those cowardly hirelings . . . // . . . Who ever taught the eunuch negro nobility? His / “white” people, or his royal ancestors? // or his ear bleeding in the hand of the slave-broker? / or his worth, seeing that for two farthings / he would be rejected? // wretched Kafur is the most deserving of the base / to be excused in regard to every baseness – / and sometimes excusing is a reproach – / and that is because white stallions are incapable / of gentility, so how about black eunuchs?
Bernard Lewis, "In Black and White", Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry, Oxford University Press, pp. 54-62, ISBN 978-0-19-506283-0, 1990 More stupid than a slave or his mate is he who makes / the slave his master . . . // . . . One who holds you by his word is unlike one who holds / you in his jail – // The morality of the [black] slave is bounded by his / stinking pudenda and his teeth. // He does not keep his engagements of today, nor remember / what he said yesterday . . . // . . . Hope for no good from a man over whose head the / slaver’s hand has passed, // And, if you are in doubt about his person or / condition, look to his race. // One who is vile in his coat, was usually vile / in his caul. // He who makes his way beyond his merits, still cannot / get away from his root.
Bernard Lewis, "In Black and White", Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry, Oxford University Press, pp. 54-62, ISBN 978-0-19-506283-0, 1990 Qadi Iyad (108301149) was one of the most famous Maliki jurists, also an Imam and qadi in Granada under the Almoravid dynasty.
[Qadi Iyad repeats this twice:] Ahmad b. Abi Sulayman, the companion of Sahnun, said, 'Anyone who says that the Prophet was black (
aswad) should be killed.'
Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa bi-ta'rif huquq al-Mustafa, 2, al-Maktaba al-Shamila, p. 217, 234, https://app.turath.io/book/1753 ; translated in
Aisha Abdarrahman Bewley, ed, (2004), Ash-Shifa of Qadi 'Iyad, Scotland, pp. 375, 387, 2004, https://archive.org/details/MuhammadMessengerOfAllahAshShifaOfQadiIyad Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani (897-967) was an Arab litterateur, genealogist, poet, and musicologist.
[Retelling an anecdote about "an Arab poet known as al-Sayyid al-Himyari (723-89)":] The Sayyid was my neighbor, and he was very dark. He used to carouse with the young men of the camp, one of whom was as dark as he was, with a thick nose and lips, and a Negroid [
muzannajj] appearance. The Sayyid had the foulest smelling armpits of anybody. They were jesting together one day, and the Sayyid said to him: "You are a Zanji in your nose and your lips!" whereat the youth replied to the Sayyid: "And you are a Zanji in your color and armpits!"
Bernard Lewis, "Image and Stereotype", Race and Slavery in the Middle East: A Historical Enquiry, Oxford University Press, pp. 92-99, ISBN 978-0-19-506283-0, 1990