Machine summary:
was forbidden to people of other faiths to hold Christian slaves" ( even the Christian Church in the Islamic Empire forbade Christians to sell Christian slaves to non-Christians on pain of ex• communications) the Muslim Law permitted Christians and Jews to own Muslim slaves5• In the 4th/10th century, Egypt, South Arabia, and North Africa, were the chief markets for black slaves.
In 'Oman they paid between 250-800 marks for a good negro-slave8• About 800/912 a " sweetly pretty girl " fetched 150 dinars (1,500 marks)9• When the Wazir As-Sahib (Ibn Abbad) purchased a Nubian male slave, for 400 dinars'", the price was considered a trifle excessive; for even a pretty dark-coloured Nubian girl, the most highly prized as concubines, could be had for 800 dinarsll.
their bastards12• Like the negro-servant today the black house-slave was chiefly employed as door-keeper13• In a society which, above everything else, valued good poetry and fine music, artistically talented and trained boys and girls (1) At least the first child.
And for such girls so trained the price was from 10 to 20,000 marks2• Some of the poorer artists gave lessons at the houses of great slave-dealers", Of the professional female singers in the Capital in 306/918 there were very few who were not slaves4• As with us..
According to Muhammadan law, a slave is (i) a person takencaptive in war, or carried off by force from a foreign hostile country, and being at the time of capture an unbeliever.
· Also the treatment of slaves, as enacted in Muhammadan law, taken all in all, can only be regarded as just.