The Bey, the mufti and the scattered pearls : Shari'a and political leadership in Tunisia's Age of Reform -1800-1864 Haven, Elisabeth Cornelia van der
Citation Haven, E. C. van der. (2006, October 26). The Bey, the mufti and the scattered pearls : Shari'a and political leadership in Tunisia's Age of Reform -1800-1864. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/4968
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C H A P T E R T W O
The Abolition of Slavery in Tunisia (1846) 1 A study into its historical backgrounds and its juridico-theological legitimization
Those your right hands own Who seek emancipation, contract with them accordingly, if you know some good in them; and give them the wealth of God that He has given you. 2
Introduction
In January 1846 A h h 1837-1855 h h h h h h h h h h h h ’ h h h ’ … H A h h h h h h h h h h h h h h … H h h h h h h h h h - h 3
Whether ‘overwhelming foreign influence’ was a decisive factor in all or most cases of abolition, is a question that would require a much broader study. It was certainly a factor in some abolition decrees, like the ones in Egypt and in the Ottoman Empire, where abolitionary measures became a stake in negotiations with England and other, far greater political interests were involved.
The question may be raised whether in this early Tunisian case strong foreign pressure was an issue. Other considerations regarding this early social reform playing their role at A ’ h h
1 This chapter has been published in a shorter version in Sharqiyyāt . Journal of the Dutch Association for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies . 1998 (2), 105, and in Revue d’Histoire Maghrébine . 2000 (99/100),449, in English, with a summary in Arabic.
2 Those your right hands own ( mā malakat aymānukum ), standard expression for slaves. Sūra 24, 33(33).
3 R. Brunschvig, ‘Abd . In: EI 2 I, 36.
41 h h h h ’ h h h h h h H in relation to the great political powers in the Mediterranean – France, England, the Ottoman Empire? Did the justification presented reflect in any way the presumed foreign influence?
This chapter is an investigation into these other considerations. Most of all, however, it will serve to examine the theological justifications given to the beylical decree by the two Tunisian muftis and others. How could what had been permitted by law for centuries, suddenly be forbidden? Was to prohibit what God had permitted not just as unlawful as to permit what God had prohibited? 4
I. Black Slaves and Islam: a short history
When in 1842 the Sultan of Morocco - H h 1822- 1859 h h h h h h h ‘ ’ h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h …5
The Sultan was undeniably right. Slavery was there since the dawn of times and in the seventh century the new religious community of the Prophet Mu h h h h Qurānic h h h h ’ - H h h h h h h h h h h h jihād h h ’ h h h h h h h h h h h ’ h Bilād al - Sūdān ‘the land of the blacks’ h h h h h h h h h h h h h kuffār h h h h h h h h h ‘kuffār ’
4 B. Lewis, Race and Slavery in the Middle East . Oxford (University Press) 1990, 156. See also: Sūra 5: 87,89.
5 Id., 151.
42 h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h - h h h h h h 2000 h h h h ’ h ‘legally’ on governments’ Black Slaves in Tunisia