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Article 3 on the Conclusions of Stanley Paine,Specialist on Spanish History, about Spain and Islam

 

Posted: 17 Mar 2013 

Recently,in 2010,Stanley G. Paine,American expert on Spanish civilization and history,published a scholarly analysis of Spanish history.His book was first in Spanish and then in 2011 published in English as “Spain:a Unique History”.

Chapter 2 of his book is “Spain and Islam:The Myth of Al-Andalus” and here I cite his conclusions textually so that nobody can say a paraphrase of mine does not represent him.The only modification of mine is that I enumerate some of his statements.
About slavery in Muslim Spain he writes:

“Slavery was:
1.A major feature of tolerant,”conviviente” Andalusi society,
2.Which maintained major international slave markets in Cordoba(My note:Cordoba was the capital of Muslim Spain till 1031) and other large cities.
Mohammed declared that Muslims could not be held as slaves but otherwise explicitly approved slavery as an institution in Islamic society,the slave population to be made up of the many prisoners captured in Islamic military conquest and others purchased on the international market.
3.The frequent “aceifas” launched against the Spanish principalities were designed to a considerable extent as slave raids.”
The often yearly expeditions from Cordoba to capture Christian slaves and booty:the razzias/aceifas
The razzias or aceifas were surprise attacks,in the name of Islam,in the name of jihad,against non-Muslims in order to get booty and slaves and if possible expand Muslim territory.They would capture the women to be sex-slaves in harems.
For example the harem of Abdal Rahman III (912 – 961),the greatest Muslim ruler of the Iberian peninsula,and its first caliph, in Cordoba contained 6,000 Christian sex-slaves.
To know more read:
The article has a bibliography that shows where the author got his information,so you can verify the content.

http://www.christianaction.org.za/articles_ca/2004-4-thescourgeofslavery.htm

Ruins of Madinat al-Zahra,palace of the First Caliph of Muslim Spain

About racism and slavery among Muslims
“Slavery:
1.In the Islamic world was multiracial,
2.As in ancient Rome,non-Muslims from any racial or ethnic group being possible victims.
3.A major new feature of Islamic slavery,however,was development of a large-scale black African slave trade.Black slaves had been found in Rome,but their numbers were very few,whereas the Arabs were the first to make the acquisition of sizable numbers of African slaves a major activity.
4.The Muslims were also the first to categorize blacks as uniquely racially inferior and hence more naturally and appropriately enslaved.Arabs were thus not inhibited in seizing slaves from black Muslim tribes,as well”(1)”
(1)R.Segal,”Islam’s Black Slaves:The Other Black Diaspora”(2001)
The influence of the Muslim’s racism on the Spaniards and Portuguese
“1.Whereas slavery largely died out in western Europe outside Italy,
2.The influence of the Islamic slave-trading border helped to sustain the presence of slavery in the Spanish Christian principalities,which imbibed the Muslim attitude toward black slavery and,by the close of the fifteenth century,would position themselves to surpass the Muslims in the African slave trade.(2)”
(2)J.H.Sweet,”The Iberian Roots of American Racist Thought”
A positive word in the book about Islamic slavery
“Conversely the most positive aspect of Islamic slavery was the encouragement of regular emancipation or the purchasing of freedom after conversion(even though this was not always observed in practice),so that multigenerational slave castes generally did not develop,even though slave markets thrived in the Middle East and Africa well into the twentieth century.”(3)
(3)B.Lewis,”Race and Slavery in the Middle East:An Historical Inquiry”(1992)

The Koran

However,the Koran does allow Freeing Slaves, but makes it Conditional
If the master thinks the slave deserves it he frees a slave.
Chapter 24:33:
“And let those who find not the means to marry be abstinent till God enriches them of His bounty.
1.Those your right hands own (Note:slaves) who seek emancipation, contract with them accordingly
2.If you know some good in them (Note:if you think the slave deserves freedom)
And give them of the wealth of God that He has given you. And constrain not your slave-girls to prostitution, if they desire to live in chastity, that you may seek the chance goods of the present life. Whosoever constrains them, surely God, after their being constrained, is All-forgiving, All-compassionate.”
It is also made implicit in this verse:
Chapter 8:70:
“O Prophet, say to the captives (Note:people made slaves in war) in your hands:


1. “If God knows of any good in your hearts (Note:if you deserve it)
2.He will give you better than what has been taken from you
(Note:they had just been made slaves,their freedom had been taken away) ,
and He will forgive you; surely God is All-forgiving, All-compassionate.” ”
“You are taking it out of Context!”
That is the accusation made by Muslims and some on-Muslims.They mean to say is:
1.There is something in the Koran that limits the slavery passages to the 23 year career of Muhammad from 610-632.Muhammad died in 632.
2.Or something in the Islamic tradition and later writings.
Not according to Muhammad’s closest Companions
In reality there is nothing that limits it to Muhammad’s life.Slavery has been part of Islamic law for some 1300 years and the first 4 caliphs of Islam were friends and even relatives of Muhammad.
1.Abu Bekr:his father-in-law (ruled 632-634)
2.Omar (ruled 634-644,assasinated)
3.Othman (ruled 644-656-assasinated)
4.Ali:cousin and son-in-law (ruled 656-661,assasinated)
They all,as far as we can tell,approved of enslaving others.No documents regarding them say they ever thought slavery was a temporary institution,to gradually disappear.
To verify the Koranic citations go to quranbrowser.com, which has:
1.Six translations by Muslims.
2.Four translations by non-Muslims.
3.The text in Arabic,with Latin letters.
http://quranbrowser.com/


The Bibliography at the end of Chapter 2 (Spain and Islam:The Myth of Al-Andalus)of Stanley G. Paine’s “Spain:a Unique History”(2011)
1.E. Karsh,”Islamic Imperialism:A History”(2006)
2.P. Fregosi,”Jihad in the West:Muslim Conquests from the 7th to the 21st Centuries”(1998)
3.P.Damian Cano,”El Islam y los pueblos ibericos/Islam and the Iberian peoples”(2004)
4.C.Vidal Manzanares,”Espana frente al Islam:De Mahoma a Ben Laden/Spain face to face with Islam:from Muhammad to Ben Laden”(2004)
5.I.V.Gaiduk,”The Great Confrontation:Europe and Islam through the Centuries”(2003)
6.M.Bonner,”Jihad in Islamic History:Doctrines and Practice”(2006)
7.R.Collins,”The Arab Conquest of Spain,710-797″(1989).
It is the second volume of the multivolume “Blackwell’s History of Spain”,edited by John Lynch.
8.P.Chalmeta,”Invasion e islamizacion:La sumision de Hispania y la formacion de Al-Andalus”(2003)
9.T.F.Glick,”Islamic and Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages:Comparative Perspectives on Social and Cultural Formation”(1979)
10.P.Guichard,”De la expansion arabe a la Reconquista:Esplendor y fragilidad de Al-Andalus”(2002)
11.P.Guichard,”Al-Andalus:Estructura antropologica de una sociedad islamica en Occidente”(1976)
It shows the complete predominance of oriental culture and forms.
12.A.G.Chejne,”MuslimSpain:Its History and Culture”(1974)
13.M.G.S.Hodgson,”The Venture of Islam:Conscience and History in a World Civilization”,3 volumes(1974)
14.M.G.S.Hodgson,”Rethinking World History:Essays on Europe,Islam and World History“(1993)
15.J.Van Ess,”The Flowering of Muslim Theology”(2006)
16.S.Gouguenheim,”Aristoteles y el Islam:Las raices griegas de la Europa cristiana/Aristotle and Islam:the Greek Roots of Christian Europe” (2009)
17.J.Vernet,”El Islam y Europa“(1982)
18.R.Segal,”Islam’s Black Slaves:The Other Black Diaspora“(2001)
19.J.H.Sweet,”The Iberian Roots of American Racist Thought”
It is about the influence and example of Islam in the early development of slavery among the Spanish and Portuguese.
20.R.C.Davis,”Christian Slaves,Muslim Masters:White Slavery in the Mediterranean,the Barbary Coast and Italy,1500-1800″(2003)
21.E.G.Friedman,”Spanish Captives in North Africa in the Early Modern Age“(1983)
22.M.A.Garces,”Cervantes in Algiers:A Captive’s Tale“(2002)
23.B.Lewis,”Race and Slavery in the a Middle East:An Historical Inquiry“(1992)
24.B.Vincent,”La cultura morisca”,Historia 16 18(October 1977),pages 78-95.
25.L.Cardaillac,”Moriscos y Cristianos:Un Enfrentamiento polemico/a polemical confrontation(1492-1640)”(1979)
26.E.K.Neunoven,”Los arabismos del espanol en el siglo XIII/Arabisms in Spanish in the 13th century”(1941)
27.E.Alfonso,”La construccion de la identidad judia en el Al-Andalus en la Edad Media/The contrstruction of Jewish Identity in Al-Andalus in the Middle Ages“,El Olivo 23.49(1999),pages 5-24.
28.Martinez Torres,”Prisioneros de los infieles:Vida y rescate de los cautivos cristianos en el mediterraneo musulman(siglos XVI-XVII)/Prisoners of the infidels:Life and rescue of Christian captives in the Muslim Mediterranean(16th-17th centuries)“(2007)
29.A.Torrecillas Velasco,”Dos(Two) civilizaciones en conflicto:Espana en el Africa musulmana:Historia de una guerra(war) de 400 anos(years)(1497-1927)(2006)
30.M.Arribas Palau,”La relaciones hispano magrebies en el siglo XVIII”(2007)
31.S.Fanjul,”Al-Andalus contre Espana:La forja del mito/Al-Andalus against Spain:the Making of a Myth”(2000)
31.S.Fanjul,”La quimera de Al-Andalus/The Al-Andalus Chimera”(2004)

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