Anon.: At Tahqiq fi sira ar raqiq (1250)

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The treatise is entitled: at-Tahqiq fī sira 'ar-raqiq. The location of the Ms: Maktabat at-Taimuriyya, Cairo, No. 48 of the department of Fada'il wa-rada'il. On p. 2, the author mentions the name of his client Şala ‘ad Din al-Malik aş-şali Ahmad b. al-Muzaffar Gazi b. al Muzaffar Yusuf b. Ayyub b. Sadi, which must be a grandson of Saladin (1202/1252AD). So the scripture will have been written around 1250 or something before that.

Taken from: Die Kunst des Sklavenkaufs : nach arabischen, persischen und türkischen Ratgebern vom 10. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert by Müller, Hans

 

Chapter 1: Advice on purchasing and studying the slave.

Chapter 2: The races of freemen and slaves, as well as the characteristics of the inhabitants of the places.

Chapter 3: Investigation and physiognomic observation of body organs with poet opinions on this.

Chapter 4: Characteristics and types of people (on long, short, thin, being fat, etc.)

Chapter 5: The relationships among the slaves.

Chapter 6: What activities corresponding male and female slaves.

Chapter 7: Be watchful for fraud of slavers.

 

As illustration only; This letter of Barut bin Yakut african slave in 1937 regent of Kalba in Persian Gulf. This letter asks the British support for his appointment.

 (Under: not from this book)

You buy no slave who is accustomed to attacks, abuse and controversy. They say: The best slave is the one for which no stock is broken, and the worst is the one for which no stock is purchased, when it is said: Buy no slave, unless you purchase simultaneously a stick, then it is meant for the Zang, because they are the worst slaves. The slave labor only does well under the stock.


… for posterity a Persian, for breastfeeding a Negress (zangiyya) for singing a Mekkanerin and as servant an Armenian; who wants slaves for the close guarding of persons and goods, take the Indians take and Nubians, for the service and heavy work Negro (zang) and Armenians.

Ibn Abdun said Armenians are the worst whites, like the Zang are the nastiest Black; they resemble each other in the strength
of their body, the amount of their being bad and the rawness of their hearts.

The Zang
The blacker the blacks, the uglier they are, and the sharper their teeth. They are hard to use and have many disadvantages.
They have a bad character and like to run away. Galen (1) said: The Negroes have ten properties that others do not have: ruffled
hair, slight eyebrows, wide nostrils, thick lips, sharp (pointed) teeth, smelly skin, bad character, flat hands and feet, long penis
and love of music. They are dominated by the music, because they have a bad brain and consequently weak mind. The Zang
have more love for music than the other Negroes. Science does not exist for them, and they also are not suited for delicate
work, because their minds are bad. But they are hard, durable and useful for laborious work. You only know their own
language. What they are good at, is the blowing of musical instruments and dancing. They say: If a Zang fell from heaven to
earth, then it would fall only to the rhythm. You have the cleanest front teeth because of their many saliva (3), and these, they
have because of their poor digestion. They say: If the Zang is sick, he suffers severe pain, without complaint. The women of
Zang are suitable as wet nurses for the children and their education, dance, bubbles, but not for marriage, because her skin
and her armpits smell bad and their bodies are rough.

The Abyssinian.
They are comparable with the Zang and protect people and possessions. Their bodies are weak, their souls
strong their lifetime is short. They are often attacked by tuberculosis and a high fever. They don’t do well in countries other
than that in which they are grown. They are virtuous, righteous, patient and docile, even clever, perceptive and intelligent.
For the song and the dance they are not suitable. Their women are more docile than men. Among them there are those for
delicious marrying, as they have a heated lap and a tender abdomen. Your children are neither noble nor strong, however,
most cunning, deceitful and evil predators. (2)

(1) Galen: Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus (129 – c. 216 CE), was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire.

Galen: In the black ten qualities not found or not present in the other: this statement is repeated endless: Al-Mas'udi (916), Abu Ubayd Al Bakri (1067), At Tahqiq fi sira ar raqiq (1250); Ibn al Jawzi (1257); Al-Qazwini(d. 1283); Al-Dimashqi (1325), Abulfida (1331), Al Amsati al Hanafi (1478).

(2) Only those authors of books (or parts of it) that refer (also) to Selling/ Prices (Taxes) and Qualities of black slaves are mentioned.

- Ja’far al Sadiq (765)

- Sahnun ibn Sa’id ibn Habib at-Tanukhi:(d 854)

- Al Jahiz's Kitab al-Hayawan; on castration (869)

- Al Jahiz , other works (d869)

- Ibn abi l Ash’ath (970)

- Abu’l-Faraj al-Isfahani: (d971)

- Ibn Abi al-Qasim al-Qayrawani (983)

- Constantine Porphyrogenitus: (10th cent)

- R. Hai Gaon (d1038)

- Ibn Butlan: (d1066)

- Abu al-Walid al-Baji; (d1081) (Spain)

- Kai Ka’us b. Iskander (1083)

- Al-Shayzari (1164)

- Samawal ibn Yahya al-Maghribi al-Israili; (1175)

- Al-Saqati (1210)

- At Tahqiq fi sira ar raqiq (1250)

- Nasir Al Din Al Tousi (1274)

- Amir Khusrau : I'jaz-i-Khusravi (1283)

- Written for Sultan al-Muzaffar: Nur al-ma'arif (1295)

- Al-Dimashqi (1325)

- Ibn al-Akfani, (1348)

- Khalil ibn Ishaq al-Jundi: (d1365)

- al Hasan ibn Ali al-Sharif al-Husayni (1412)

- al-Abshihi (1450)

- Al Amsati al Hanafi (1478)

(3) They have the cleanest teeth of mankind because they have much saliva. This is repeated with variations by: Al-Jahiz (869); Ibn Qutayba (880); Ibn Abd Rabbih (d940); Abu Hilal Al-Askari (1005 AD); Ibn Butlan (1066); Abu Ubayd Al Bakri (1067); Al-Raghib al-Isfahani (1109); Al-Zamakhshari (d1144); Ibn al Jawzi (1200); At Tahqiq fi sira ar raqiq (1250); al-Abshihi (1450); Al Amsati al Hanafi (1478).