Ep. 79: Slavery and Islam Part 2: Islam & the Abolition of Slavery - Bilal Ware

ImanWire Podcast

Our series on slavery continues as Dr. Bilal Ware joins the podcast to explore the Islamic tradition and the abolition of slavery, debunk the myths of the "Arab-Islamic" slave trade and reflect on how these histories impact our lives today. Dr. Bilal Ware is a historian of Africa and Islam and is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at UC-Santa Barbara. He is the author of several books including, "The Walking Qur'an: Islamic Education, Embodied Knowledge & History in West Africa", which details the intellectual and spiritual tradition in West Africa and tells the story of African Muslims in the 18th century abolishing slavery and monarchy. Link to previous episode with Dr. Ware: https://www.almadina.org/studio/podcasts/ep-9-walking-qurans-of-africa-scholarship-liberty-the-abolition-of-slavery-dr-rudolph-ware CHAPTERS: 0:00 - Introduction 5:54 - Was Slavery Uncontested in Islamic Law? 6:50 - The Single Most Misunderstood Aspect of the Sunnah 12:30 - Freedom: The Fundamental Principle of Humanity 16:00 - West African Scholars and Abolitionism 19:22 - Challenging Every Element of Slavery 27:00 - Orientalist Aims of Normalizing an Islamic Legacy of Slavery 32:22 - An Intellectual Geneology of Abolition in West Africa 37:44 - The Lead-Up to Revolutionary Emanicipation 45:44 - 1776: The End of Monarchy and Slavery in Senegambia 48:22 - Expanding Identity to Free, Not Enslave 50:18 - Scholarship Independent From Political Authority 53:37 - Was Senegambian Abolition A Blip in History? 56:06 - Sokoto and Uthman Dan Fodio 59:33 - Exporting the Revolution: The Spirit of Muslim Slave Revolt 1:01:12 - Savannah, Georgia: "A Believer Cannot Own Another Believer" 1:04:59 - The Link Between West African Abolitionists and Frederick Douglass 1:06:52 - Written Out of History: The Legacy of Abdulqadir Kan 1:07:59 - Prophetic Examples Against Slavery 1:10:48 - The Intellectual Dishonesty of the "Arab-Islamic Slave Trade" 1:30:33 - The Imprint of History on Our Engagement With Islam