African Americans, Slavery, and Islam

Ramachandra B. Abhyankar got another of his "letters to the editor" printed in the May 27, 2012 Tribune Star (Terre Haute, Indiana).

http://tribstar.com/opinion/x1561293081/READERS-FORUM-May-27-2012

 Well done, Ramachandra! Here's the letter:

African Americans, slavery and Islam

Many African Americans in the United States have renounced Christianity and embraced Islam, in protest against the enslavement of their ancestors by white Christians in America when slavery was legal in America. This is ironic because Islam supports slavery. The enslavement of Africans under Islam is not only a historical fact, but is something that continues today, in some parts of Africa, and some Islamic countries, since Sharia (Islamic Law) supports slavery.

Historically, Islam has enslaved members of all races.

• The enslavement of Black Africans by Islam is described in the book “Islam's Black Slaves: The Other Black Diaspora” by Ronald Segal

• The enslavement of white Christians from Europe by Islam is described in the book “Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy, 1550-1800” by Robert C. Davis

• The enslavement of Hindus by Islam is described in the book “Muslim slave system in Medieval India” by K.S. Lal

The enslavement of Jews in Islam started from the time of the Prophet of Islam. All unarmed adult male members (about 800 in number) of the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza, who had surrendered, were beheaded and their women and children were sold into slavery in Medina by Muslims in 627 A.D., in the presence of the Prophet of Islam. The Prophet of Islam made no attempt to stop these killings of unarmed Jewish men and the enslavement of the women and children of the Jews.

In fact, Islam has sustained slavery for 1,400 years, since Sharia (Islamic Law) supports slavery.

— Ramachandra B. Abhyankar
Terre Haute