The Arab Muslim Slave Trade

“The Arab Muslim slave trade, also known as the Trans-Saharan or Eastern slave trade, is recognised as the longest in history, spanning over 1,300 years. It forcibly removed millions of Africans from their homeland, subjecting them to brutal conditions while they laboured in foreign lands”, wrote the German NGO “FairPlanet”.

In short, the Muslim slave trade is one of the oldest and most enduring slave trades in the world. It involved the capture, transportation, and exploitation of millions of people, primarily from sub-Saharan Africa, but also from Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus. It was the economic base for the islamic colonization of the Middle East.

From Europe and the Caucasus, 2 million more must be added. In sum, we can speak of about 20 million slaves captured, exploited, humiliated and killed by the Arab Muslim slave trade.

Bob Koigi wrote in another article summarising the facts that “From the 7th century and over 13 centuries, between 10 and 18 million Africans were trafficked through the Sahara and the Indian Ocean to the Arab world, mainly to the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa and other parts of the Middle East.”

Unlike the transatlantic slave trade, which focused heavily on plantation labour, the Muslim trade emphasised domestic service, military roles, and concubinage, with a significant gender imbalance favouring female slaves. Means: Rape, gangbang and mutilation.

Mortality was high: up to 80% of castrated males died during procedures, and 2 million perished on Saharan routes alone. Treatment was often brutal, with raids involving massacres, starvation during treks, and systematic castration or rape. Islamic law mandated humane treatment and manumission as piety, but abuses were rampant.

The Quran and Hadith permitted enslaving non-Muslims (e.g., war captives, polytheists aka ‘infidels’) while prohibiting it for Muslims. Today, legacy includes ongoing human trafficking in Sahel regions (e.g., 600,000 in Mauritania’s bonded labour) and suppressed historical discourse, lacking memorials or curricula compared to the Atlantic trade.

Hadiths describe the practice of taking non-Muslim captives in war as lawful, often distributing them as slaves among fighters. They, the hadiths, affirm enslavement as a valid outcome of jihad against non-Muslims (Sahih al-Bukhari 4138,

The Quran uses phrases like “those whom your right hands possess” (mā malakat aymānukum) to refer to slaves or captives, typically non-Muslims taken in war. These verses permit sexual relations with such captives, implying the legality of their enslavement (Surah An-Nisa (4:24), Surah Al-Mu’minun (23:5-6), Surah Al-Ahzab (33:50), Sahih Muslim 1763)

The historian N’Diaye estimates that 17 million East Africans were sold into slavery: “Most people still have the so-called Transatlantic [slave] trade by Europeans into the New World in mind. But in reality the Arab-Muslim slavery was much greater,” N’diaye said.

“Yet the Arab slave trade, a major component of African history, lasted more than 13 centuries. It began in the early seventh century and continued in one form or another until the 1960s. In Mauritania slavery was officially outlawed only in August 2007”, wrote the historian David Gakunzi, and concluded citing some major Muslim authorities about the legality to capture slaves: “This despicable phenomenon (slavery, note by VonNaftali) was legitimized by Islam, as Christianity would later condone the transatlantic slave trade.

For example, the Tunisian Arab historian Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) wrote that “the only peoples to accept slavery are the Negroes, because of their lower degree of humanity, their place being closer to the animal stage.”² The Algerian Arab theologian Ahmed al-Wancharisi (1430/1431-1508) offered legal and religious recommendations: “I have been asked about slaves from the land of Abyssinia who profess monotheism and accept the rules of the Holy Law: is it legal or not to buy and sell them?… If their conversion to Islam comes after the establishment of a property right [on these slaves], then Islam does not demand liberation, because slavery was caused by unbelief. The state of servitude persists after the disappearance of unbelief because of its existence in the past.””

And today? The author, Mohamed A. Yasin summarised the modern-day slavery in the Gulf states. The ‘kafala system‘: “Modern-day slavery in the Arab world is often hidden from view, taking place behind closed doors where workers are silenced by fear and isolation. The ongoing abuse of foreign workers serves as a reminder that the horrors of the Arab slave trade have not been fully addressed.”

The Arab-Muslim slave trade was probably not only the largest but certainly the longest-lasting slave trade in the world. This slave trade was justified by the Quran, and the concept of jihad even sanctioned the enslavement of non-believers, a practice that often included a strong sexual component: the castration of men and the brutal rape of women, frequently resulting in death.

Without any reservations or exceptions, all denotations of Islam must condemn slavery and fully acknowledge its guilt. If Islam cannot do this, then it must be denounced and forbidden as a religion that condones slavery. This slave trade forged the today’s islamic occupation of the Middle East.

The Middle East must be decolonized from the islamic tyranny. The first step of liberation of the Middle East was the foundation of the State of Israel. The next step of decolonization from the islamic opression will be the liberation of the Iran from the Mullah regime. They are islamic occupiers of the Iran.

Pic (quote): Illustration von Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti zu den Maqāmāt von al-Hariri. 34. Maqāma: Sklavenmarkt in Zabid im Jemen, 13. Jahrhundert (Französische Nationalbibliothek). Licensing

First published 28.09.2025

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