The Forgotten Slave Trade: The White European Slaves of Islam

by (Historian) Simon Webb

One reason that Muslims well into the twentieth century saw no objection to slavery, whatever anybody belonging to other cultures might think or say about it, was that the Qur’an is traditionally regarded as being God’s own words, delivered to Mohammed by the angel Gabriel. Only the staunchest of Protestant fundamentalists would claim that the entire Bible consists solely of the Lord’s words, with no human error having crept in over the millennia; in Islam, this is the orthodox and mainstream view. If the Qur’an accepts and endorses slavery, then this is God’s view on the matter and there is no more to be said. This may go some way to explaining the differing perspectives on slavery found in Muslim countries as opposed to the rest of the world. Britain and America outlawed the slave trade over 200 years ago, but slavery was still legal in Saudi Arabia as late as 1961 and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania did not pass laws abolishing slavery until 1981.