Medieval Arab attitudes to Black people

Attitudes of medieval Arabs to Black (African) people varied over time and individual attitude, but tended to be negative. Though the Qur'an expresses no racial prejudice, ethnocentric prejudice towards African people is widely evident among medieval Arabs, for a variety of reasons: the declining power of the Aksumite Empire; Arabs' extensive conquests and slave trade; the influence of Aristotelian ideas regarding slavery, which some Muslim philosophers directed towards Zanj; and the influence of Judeo-Christian ideas regarding divisions among humankind.

Source: Wikipedia — Medieval Arab attitudes to Black people (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Medieval Arab attitudes to Black people

Attitudes of medieval Arabs to Black (African) people varied over time and individual attitude, but tended to be negative. Though the Qur'an expresses no racial prejudice, ethnocentric prejudice towards African people is widely evident among medieval Arabs, for a variety of reasons: the declining power of the Aksumite Empire; Arabs' extensive conquests and slave trade; the influence of Aristotelian ideas regarding slavery, which some Muslim philosophers directed towards Zanj; and the influence of Judeo-Christian ideas regarding divisions among humankind.

This neuron ends here.

Source: Wikipedia "Medieval Arab attitudes to Black people" · CC BY-SA 4.0

Share this article: X · Bluesky
Privacy Policy