Author: K S Lal
Publisher: Aditya Prakashan
Year: 1994
Language: English
Pages: 196
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8185689679
Description
This study documents for the first time the Muslim slave system as it obtained in medieval India under Muslim rule.
Slavery originated during the age of savagery and continued into ancient civilizations. Ancient India also had slaves but they were so mildly treated that foreign visitors like Megasthenes, who were acquainted with their fate in other countries, failed to notice the existence of slavery in this country.
An altogether new dimension - religious sanction - was added to the institution of slavery with the rise of Christianity to power in the Roman Empire. With the advent of Islam, slavery became inalienable with religion and culture and was accorded a permanent place in society. The Quran expressly permitted the Muslims to acquire slaves through conquest. It was enjoined on the faithful to enslave non-Muslims for no other reason that that of their being non-Muslims.
From the day India became a target of Muslim invasion, Its people began to be enslaved in droves to be sold in foreign lands or employed in various capacities on menial and non-so-menial jobs within the country. Indeed, from the days of Muhammad Bin Qasim in the eighth century to those of Ahmad Shah Abdali in the eighteenth, enslavement, distribution and sale of Hindu prisoners was systematically practiced by Muslim rulers of India.
Right from the fifteenth century Muslims would go on furnishing black slaves to European slave traders. At least 80% of all the black slaves that were ever exported from Black Africa went through Muslim hands. A large part of the slaves transported to America had also been bought from Muslim slave-catchers.
Contents
Preface
Abbreviations
CHAPTER I
Introduction
CHAPTER II
The Origins of Muslim Slave System
CHAPTER III
Enslavement of Hindus by Arab and Turkish Invaders
CHAPTER IV
The Slave Sultans of Hindustan
CHAPTER V
Slave-taking during Muslim Rule
CHAPTER VI
Inslavement and Proselytization
CHAPTER VII
Struggle for Power among Slave Nobles
CHAPTER VIII
Employment of Slaves
CHAPTER IX
Ghilmans and Eunuchs
CHAPTER X
Slave Trade
CHAPTER XI
Rules regarding Manumission and Sale of Slaves
CHAPTER XII
Sex Slavery
Postscript
Bibliography
Index