I've been thinking about an incident that occured in Salalah recently (few weeks ago) regarding the use of the word 'slave'. Evidently a young nurse (whose family were former slaves) got into an argument with a patient over something. The patient was from one of Salalah's so called 'high class' tribes or 'Assada' (that's another story that needs to be told). He ended up calling her a slave. She took him to court and he was forced to pay her a large sum of money (10,000 Rials?). He was also sentenced to six months in jail but was bailed out by his tribe. .
This incident brought tears to my eyes. This is the first time I've heard of a former slave or descendents of slaves fighting for their rights. And to be honest, I had no idea that the Omani law protected slaves like this. When I was young, one of my closest friends was the daughter of slaves. She was the sweetest girl ever and I remember being made fun of by my classmates for befriending a 'slave' just because she was black. In fact, my older brother asked me to stop being friends with her because I was ruining the family reputation. This hurt me a lot, and I know it hurt her too, but we remained friends and she ended up moving to Muscat and is now studying abroad to become a lawyer.
.
.
Former slaves (African Omanis) aren't as visible in Muscat as they are in Sur and Salalah. A large percentage of people in Salalah are black and to be honest, I hardly notice anymore if a person is 'black' or not. Do keep in mind that slavery is still very fresh in the memories of locals in Dhofar. It was not abolished in Oman until 1970 when His Majesty Sultan Qaboos overthrew his father in a bloodless coup. In fact Oman (and Muritania) were the last two countries in the WHOLE WORLD to abolish slavery, with Muritania finally ending the world's slave era in 1981.
.
When slaves were freed in Dhofar in 1970, many of the palace slaves chose to remain in the palace and to continue working there. They remain very loyal and are treated royally by His Majesty. Slaves that worked for families chose to either remain with the family and take on the family name (yes, this is why you may sometimes see black Amris or Ghassanis or Shanfaris) and others broke off and created their own family names. They remained very hardworking and sometimes I envy their women because they're more liberal and independent than the rest of us in the tribal system. The first women to throw off the face veil were black. The first women to go out and work. The first nurses in Dhofar. The first women to become cashiers in supermarkets. The first to start driving. There are a lot of firsts. They are proud and successful and wonderful people.
.
They are our best soccer players, our best dancers and musicians and they're definitely keeping the music scene alive in Dhofar. All our local dancers are former-slaves. Take a look at the Salalah's handicrafts souq. The women working there from morning to night producing beautiful incense burners and leather are black. They do not have the stupid pride that most of the other tribes carry around with them. They don't worry about 'what people will say if I do this or that'. They're just enjoying their life, and I salute them for it.
.
What do you think?
Agreed.
ReplyDeleteI think many of us are not aware how these people became slaves. What exactly made them slaves in the first place?
ReplyDeleteThe question is why they are the first in what you mentioned only? Why they are not the first in education or business?
ReplyDeleteMay be what you mentioned was the only door opened for them…
I am against racism, but to be honest it is the only thing growing fast in our community… education is slow, business in slow, tourism slow, everything is slow, only racism is very fast.
what made these people slaves?
ReplyDeletecould be any number of reasons - but the most simplistic - their ancestors being captured in Africa and shipped up to Oman's coast .
In Zanzibar there is a place 'Stone Town' which was an important staging post for slaves
Wikipedia has information that you can use to search from
However perhaps the best way - would be to ask these people themselves and listen to what they have to say
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Town
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_slave_trade
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_slave_trade
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tippu_Tip
... When reading your post, I find it interesting how people who, long ago, came from another country now seem to be keeping the Dhofari culture alive and the economy going strong.
ReplyDeleteLoved this post. An informative piece for an expetriate like me.
ReplyDeleteI think if you read this:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilal_ibn_Rabah
I grew up learning that Islam was the first to free slavery. What is happening in the gulf area mostly is the rich who are in charge to be in power bringing maids which it is a service like saying teacher/ secretary ---etc. It is better to use the term: house keeper, nanny, driver, but Kuwait mostly encouraged importing desperate people for a job then the gulf regions followed which became the worst slavery and abuse which makes me ashamed of today Islam that runs in these countries.
I still believe that there is no Black either white to compare to the color code, it is the sick mentality that individual grow up with and will never change as long as we stand silent. About time for Oman to grant this woman her rights, hoping the media will catch up with it to be a lesson to many.
assalam alaikum!
ReplyDeleteGood post! Although I'm surprised that some of the GCC locals still bare the stigma of "slavery". That's wrong. It never ever occur to me to think this way about them. But i don't count as I come from a totally different culture. To me GCC locals are all one big family...
Hi Nadia,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post. It is wonderful that you were never blinded by racism and chose your friends based on character rather than skin colour. I mean the difference in colours between people is just melanocytes colour producing cells. Who cares? I loove all these shades of people we have in the human race.
Thanks to Allah for Oman having such a wise leader as His Majesty to ensure that everyone is treated equally under the law!
Shatti
This is a very interesting post. I have met several black Omanis who are proud to have roots in Zanzibar, which although it is now in Tanzania, was once part of Oman. I'm not sure they were all necessarily slaves, but I know much less about this than you do. As it is such an interesting topic, perhaps you could write more about this?
ReplyDeleteNadia, barakAllah feech ameen thuma ameen.
ReplyDeleteSince the day i married all i hear is some tribal people calling the black people of dhofar "abd -slaves" and its boils my blood to the limit..i hate this racism and each time i hear it i explode with rage..my own freind was called a slave for being from africa and she isnt even known to dhofaris but given that racits name cos she is black ..ufff i quickly corrected the person and said, u mean black not slave.. in islam we are forbidden to us the word slave on people..Prophet Mohammed pbuh abolished slavery when he stood in Mekkah and freed slaves from the Mekkans...shame some people are still in the pre islamic era..
ill stop here because i have tears filling my eyes.. my best freinds in my life have been africans and yes those with much darker skin colour than i.. i feel less infront of them for the evil ways they have been treated.. i put forth my hand to every african man and woman.. Allah bless you all.Ameen
Brilliant read, very informative, and the 'high class' schmuck got what he deserved.
ReplyDeleteI've still got lots of photos/info about Oman/Zanzibar/Slavery to post... from my trip. Spent lots of time in museums there. Slavery was outlawed in Zanzibar in 1873... but the Omani Sultan kept trading slaves for the next few decades. Still have lots to post about the Door Open exhibition, too. My students took some videos of me dancing with the drummers! After being in Zanzibar, I had to dance! I'll have to put it on YouTube. Funny. We're taking the exhibition to D.C.
ReplyDeleteMan I dont understand this. If Zanzibar was rules by one of the Sultans of Oman then why would zanzibaris come and work as slaves for dhofaris or muscatis and why wouldnt dhofaris and muscatis go and work for zanzibaris as slaves.
ReplyDeleteWas Dhofar rich than Zanzibar.
Dhofar had nothing until 1975 to be precise, I know it, I am an expat, my father moved there in 1976 and he says there was just this Haffa Souq and ppl would climb up the coconut trees to see where there loved ones had reached in the seas who used to go for fishing.
I am not sure why it is like this, but there is this black area in Salalah where all the Black Omanis live, so I am just guessing that either the white omanis dont mix up with them or they themselves dont want to mix up.
Nadia your post is great, but I was expecting a bigger post.
I know one of the top generals of CID or some other force is also a former slave.
SO that shows that HIS Majesty the Sultan is very kind to them.
And there are loads of other Black Omanis on top positions, but I agree that's in the private sector
This was a really good post, thank you for posting this. Inshallah the negative thots will leave peoples hearts and heads. I am happy to hear of that girl fighting for her rights. Inshallah one day people will stop using that word.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of influence of arabs in the east coast of africa. The omanis went there for slave trade though some intermarried with the local people and took them back with them back to oman. Some of the Omanis stayed back with their african families and a new group/generation of people *sprung* up from that union and they still maintain that they are Omani descent.
ReplyDeleteI know later in the 1950's,a lot of hadhramis immigrated to the east coast town of Mombasa. They came there due to hardships and thought of just stayring for few months but most of them ended up staying there and having families there. This was not connected to slave trade. Just wanted to add my two-pence on how the eastern costal area of africa has lots of arabs, who still maintain the culture, language and ties to hadhramot. sf
I don't believe that Islam is silent on the eradication of slavery for two reasons: first, on the earliest days of Islam over 1400 years ago, most of slaves were prisoners of war. When the Quran spoke about the prisoners of war, it says: "thereafter (is the time for) either generosity or ransom." Sura Muhammad:4. thereby making freeing prisoners of war based on either generosity or ransom, and rejecting the prevailing customs of taking them as slaves.
ReplyDeleteFrom this aya we understand that taking prisoners of war as slaves is unacceptable in Islam.
The second reason, slavery that was considered as part of social order, was regulated by Islam under a system called 'mukatabah' that was mentioned in surah Al-Nur, aya 33 where Allah SWT says
"And if any of your slaves ask for a deed in writing (to enable them to earn their freedom for a certain sum) give them such a deed if ye know any good in them; yea, give them something yourselves out of the means which Allah has given to you."
The aforementioned aya contains 3 things:
1) it was the right of every slave to buy their freedom through entering into a contract with their master;
2) it was incumbent upon the master to accept their contract, therefore accepting their freedom,
3) and it was the obligation of the society to provide the money needed for such freedom purchase, and this is the meaning of "give them something yourselves out of the means which Allah has given you."
Therefore, I need to express two reservations in this regard:
1. The Quran ideal on this issue was lost and was not applied properly in Muslim societies. Unfortunately, some Muslim societies followed the pre-Islamic customs of taking prisoners of war as slaves and had forsaken the teachings of the Quran.
2. Some fuqaha have interpreted the command to buy freedom for slaves (mukatabah) as non binding for the master, even though this interpretation is against the implicit comparative command of the Quran and the hadith mentioned in sahih Al-Bukhari that Umar bin Al-Khattab, used to lash those masters who didn't accept and he would force them to do it.
Islam has set principles for the eradication of slavery over 1400 years ago, but unfortunately, many Muslims did not put them into practice. Therefore, we should distinguish between the law and its application, the deal and the reality. Unfortunately, these were not the only Islamic ideals that were lost; other political principles such as shurah, justice, etc. were replaced by monarchy, tyrannical rules and dictatorship. So, while we are trying to rejuvenate these principles, we need to free ourselves from the historical interpretations of some scholars and fuqaha who were influenced by the social and cultural contexts in which they lived, thereby misinterpreting Islamic principles.
"Am I therefor become you enemy, because I tell you the truth?" The BIBLE: Galatians 4:16.
Islam abolished slavery yet muslims did not follow what Prophet Mohammed pbuh told them to do hence slavery till the time it stayed in salalah...
ReplyDeleteQuran & Islam are perfect.. some people are uneducated and ignorant souls..Allah guide them before their day of grave comes. ameen.
hi Nadia your post is very touchy. I am half black and proud. I am well educated (MA to be completed soon) and all my brothers and sisters are well-educated too” this is for محفيف ;)” yes I look kinda different and no one can tell that I am black coz I look just like my mom and by the way my father wasn’t a slave, he is only black ( as if it is gonna make any difference). I remember when my sister and I went to her best friend wedding (white people’s wedding) a women approached us and asked who are you? and when Dhofari people ask who are you they mean (which tribe do you belong to)? my sister immediately respond and said we are..... the women gave us a very strong and weird look like ( what the hell are you doing here)? and then she asked another stupid question ( are you working for this Family? of course she meant that we might be their slaves) I was like OMG I shouted at the woman and said no we are the pride’s friends and she smiled I swear I can hear her saying ( you are so pathetic) I told my sister I am not staying here anymore we should have to leave. seriously I was so freaking mad I mean ( show some respect people SHAME ON YOU) anyway these kinda people should have to know that “ Slaves” as they like to call them do have rights and whenever they call us slaves aging they are going to JAIL ;).
ReplyDeleteI have lots of similar stories I might be back later, gosh they are gonna hate me big time I Finally had the chance to speak up. MANY THANKS Nadia ^________^
hi Nadia your post is very touchy. I am half black and proud. I am well educated (MA to be completed soon) and all my brothers and sisters are well-educated too” this is for محفيف ;)” yes I look kinda different and no one can tell that I am black coz I look just like my mom and by the way my father wasn’t a slave, he is only black ( as if it is gonna make any difference). I remember when my sister and I went to her best friend wedding (white people’s wedding) a women approached us and asked who are you? and when Dhofari people ask who are you they mean (which tribe do you belong to)? my sister immediately respond and said we are..... the women gave us a very strong and weird look like ( what the hell are you doing here)? and then she asked another stupid question ( are you working for this Family? of course she meant that we might be their slaves) I was like OMG I shouted at the woman and said no we are the pride’s friends and she smiled I swear I can hear her saying ( you are so pathetic) I told my sister I am not staying here anymore we should have to leave. seriously I was so freaking mad I mean ( show some respect people SHAME ON YOU) anyway these kinda people should have to know that “ Slaves” as they like to call them do have rights and whenever they call us slaves aging they are going to JAIL ;).
ReplyDeleteI have lots of similar stories I might be back later, gosh they are gonna hate me big time I Finally had the chance to speak up. MANY THANKS Nadia ^________^
Love this post. I heard about this from my sister, some ppls mentalities needs to be checked before breading!!
ReplyDeleteIt's 2010 and they still use such demeaning words.
I'm half black (from my fathers side - not really sure of the roots of his family) and growing up I faced some looks and small comments but never been called Slave. Some people try to suger-coat it by using "Samra".
Different word, same effect because of the way it's being said.
Hope people grow out of this by the next year!! > Unrealistic!
Take care
D385
Hi Nadia,
ReplyDeleteYou haven't mentioned about the sada tribes, yet! I look forward to knowing more about them.
Thanks!