Arab Muslim slave trade? why were Muslims involved in this ?

 The Arab Muslim slave trade, also known as the trans-Saharan trade or Eastern slave trade, lasted for more than 1,300 years and involved the capture and transportation of millions of Africans to work in foreign lands under inhumane conditions

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.  Arab merchants and middlemen played a significant role in this trade. They would gather in places like Zanzibar to acquire raw materials such as cloves and ivory, and then purchase black slaves to carry these materials and work on plantations abroad

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.  Slaves were sourced from regions like Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia and transported through the Indian Ocean to destinations such as Oman, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq

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.While European merchants were primarily interested in using slaves as laborers on their farms, Arab merchants focused more on concubinage, capturing women and girls who were turned into sex slaves and lived in harems

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.  The Arab slave trade was part of the broader Islamic slave trade, and the practices of keeping slaves in the Muslim world developed differently based on various social, political, economic, and logistical factors

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.It is important to note that the involvement of Muslims in the slave trade does not reflect the beliefs or teachings of Islam itself. In fact, Islam brought humanitarian reforms that opposed the enslavement of Muslims. However, these reforms led to the massive importation of slaves from outside the Islamic empire

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.  The Arab slave trade was a complex historical phenomenon that cannot be attributed solely to religious factors.The Arab slave trade lasted for centuries and had a significant impact on African history. It is a subject that has been studied and discussed, although it may not receive as much attention as the transatlantic slave trade

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.  Understanding the historical context and factors involved in the Arab Muslim slave trade is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of the history of slavery.

Citation:

[1] https://www.fairplanet.org/dossier/beyond-slavery/forgotten-slavery-the-arab-muslim-slave-trade/

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_slavery_in_the_Muslim_world

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_slave_trade

[4] https://www.jstor.org/stable/26500685

[5] https://jcpa.org/article/the-arab-muslim-slave-trade-lifting-the-taboo/

[6] https://newafricanmagazine.com/16616/