How did African slavery play out in the Gulf states?
J.B.: Well, first of all, slavery in the Middle East and North Africa predates Islam. It predates the Arab invasions of those regions after Islam’s birth in Arabia. Islam has kind of an ambivalent attitude toward slavery. It does not ban it, but it attempts to regulate it in certain ways, and it also introduces gradations of slavery. For example, the Jewish and Christian slave has a status that is superior to that of the pagan slave, and Muslims, if indentured or enslaved through circumstances, have a status that is superior to the Jewish or Christian slave. So these are innovations that certainly helped some slaves live better lives, but also are a far cry from anything approaching an abolitionist movement. The 9th century Iraqi writer Al-Jahiz wrote a great deal about slaves. He has a book about singing girl slaves, who were indentured for purposes of sex and entertainment. He expresses views on what different colored slaves are good for and not good for, and he introduces what would
