Transcription
Slavery is a grimly ubiquitous feature of human history, common across all nations and cultures, and Arabia is no exception. While the rise of Islam came with the introduction of slavery-related rules which made the practice a touch less inhumane, the ugly reality is that this horrible phenomenon persisted in the Arab world right up until the 20th century.
Of course, so long as men are kept in chains, so too will they fight to be free of them. So it was that in the 9th century, a colossal insurrection erupted in the marshlands of southern Iraq, spiraling into a massive conflict which would shake the mighty Abbasid Caliphate to its very core.
Welcome to our video on the Zanj Rebellion, the largest slave revolt in Islamic history. This video was initially available only to our YouTube members and patrons. This video is made available for free thanks to our YouTube Members and Patrons. We fund our free content through our program of exclusive videos made for our members and patrons, who get two documentaries per week not available to the public.
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Before we dive into the rebellion itself, we need to provide some context on who the titular Zanj were. Traditionally, Zanj is considered to be an ethnic exonym referring to East African slaves of Bantu origin. However, the Zanj were likely not a specific ethnicity, but rather a generalized term coined by Arabs and Persians for many African linguistic and cultural groups who lived on the Eastern coast of the continent.
Whatever the nomenclature, it is true that during the golden age of the Abbasid Caliphate, thousands of black slaves were imported from East Africa into Iraq to work in extremely brutal and inhospitable conditions. Generally, they were used to drain swamps and marshlands, clean salt flats by removing the salt crust, extract salt from seawater, and subsequently cultivate cotton and sugar cane on the lands they reclaimed.
On top of the backbreaking labour they were forced to do, the Zanj also lived in miserable conditions. Often living in camps of 500 to 5000, they sheltered in small huts made of reeds and palm leaves situated amidst the marshlands they worked in, which were breeding grounds for malaria-carrying mosquitoes. As one might expect, the Zanj slaves’ diet was as meager as their accommodations, as they were made to subsist only on a small amount of flour, semolina, and dates.
By and large, these harsh living and working conditions created a sense of solidarity among the slaves working in Southern Iraq, uniting peoples of different ethnic, linguistic, and religious origins under the ignoble burden of their shared chains. This paved the way for organized resistance.
In 689 and 694, the Zanj slaves revolted against their masters. Sources from this era are scant about these rebellions, but the fact they occurred at all proved that Southern Iraq was a breeding ground for future slave rebellions. The rebellions of the seventh century were but preludes to a much larger and deadlier revolt, which began two centuries later, in 869.
At the time, the Abbasid Caliphate was slowly disintegrating: its Iberian possessions had been usurped by a Prince of their traditional dynastic rival, the Umayyads. Moreover, the Idrisid Dynasty had overthrown Caliphal rule in Morocco in the late 8th century, while the Aghlabid Dynasty ended Abbasid rule in North Africa in the early 9th century.
To compound matters, independent states were also forming on the Eastern frontier of the Caliphate in Persia and Central Asia. Other crises, such as the decade of Anarchy in Samarra, civil wars in the heart of the Empire, the killing of the caliph al-Mutazz, the secession of Egypt under the Tulunid Dynasty, and the expansion of the Saffarids in Persia all contributed to the perfect storm which led to ideal conditions for a slave rebellion in Southern Iraq.
Indeed, the treatment of the Zanj slaves had not improved since the rebellions of the 7th century. More and more slaves were being imported from East Africa to work in the harsh conditions of Southern Iraq, which only exacerbated the existing grievances.
It is here at this critical junction that a man named Ali ibn Muhammad enters onto the scene. Some portray him as the hero of the enslaved, while others see him only as an opportunist, who saw the unrest in Iraq as a perfect environment to gain more political capital. Whatever his motivations, Ali ibn Muhammad was nonetheless the critical catalyst of the Zanj rebellion, so before we dive into the rebellion proper, let us first examine the backstory of the man who would ignite it.
Ali ibn Muhammad’s origins are unclear. He himself asserted that he was born to the lineage of Ali ibn Abi Talib, who in Shi’a Islam is considered the rightful successor to the Prophet for the seat of the Caliphate. Other sources, however, have argued that he was of Persian origin.
In any case, Ali ibn Muhammad first became significant in 863, when he moved to Bahrain, one of the most important Shiite centers in the Caliphate. This is where he claimed to be related to Imam Ali, and as a result, he quickly became popular among the local tribes and the general population. At one point, they started revering Ali ibn Muhammad as a prophet and king, and taxes started being collected in his name.
This attempt for political glory failed when the Abbasids took notice of Ali’s antics and defeated an army of his supporters in battle. As a result, Ali lost his credibility in Bahrain and fled to Basra, in Southern Iraq with his closest followers. There he intended to capitalize on the ongoing struggle of two clans in the city by winning the support of one of the groups, while attempting to rebuild his religious following by personally preaching a sermon at the main mosque of Basra.
This was obviously seen as rabble-rousing by the local authorities, who put him and his companions under arrest. Ali ibn Muhammad was imprisoned in Wasit, but he was able to flee and made his way to Baghdad with his loyal associate, a black freeman named Sulaman ibn Jami. There they started recruiting the local slaves to his cause.
One of these slaves was an African named Rayhan ibn Salih, who was something of a foreman, in charge of his master’s other slaves, who were based in Basra. Perhaps seeing the slaves of Basra as his path to power, Ali promised to make Rayhan his commander in a fight to win justice for the Zanj slaves.
It is said that the next day, Rayhan returned with another slave named Rafiq, who brought with him a banner saying: “God has purchased the souls of believers and their property, for they have attained to paradise fighting in the way of God.”
On 9 September 869, the Zanj Rebellion began, when Ali ibn Muhammad and his group started intercepting groups of slaves in Basra marshlands, preaching to them to join their struggle. Ali vowed to fight to improve the living conditions of these slaves and called himself their saviour, sent by Allah.
To that end, he adopted the egalitarian doctrine of the Kharijite sect, which stated that the most qualified man should reign, even if he was an Abyssinian slave. By the end of the year, 15,000 slaves and poor freemen joined the Zanj rebellion.
As their symbolic spearhead, Ali ibn Muhammad became known as Sahib al-Zanj, the Master of the Zanj, and started his Friday sermons with the Kharijite slogan: “God is great, God is great, there is no God but Allah and God is great, no arbitration except by God.”
During his sermons, he pledged to improve the social standing of the Zanj slaves and promised them wealth and slaves of their own. This demonstrates that the goal of Ali and the Zanj rebellion was not to abolish slavery entirely, but rather to improve the conditions of the specific slaves serving under him.
Initially, the Abbasids did not pay much attention to the Zanj rebellion, mired as they were in many other aforementioned crises of the time. This allowed the Zanj to score some important early victories, despite an apparent lack of proper arms and armour.
It is said that in one of the first major battles between the rebels and Caliphal forces, one of the Zanj rebels charged into battle with nothing but a plate, demonstrating both the resoluteness of the rebels and their poor equipment. Nevertheless, early victories against smaller imperial units allowed the Zanj to gain supplies of weapons, boats, horses, and food.
It should be noted that during all this, Ali had to command his army through the use of several interpreters, demonstrating that the Zanj rebellion did not consist of a single ethnic or language group, and was probably a mix of black slaves of different ethnic backgrounds.
As previously touched upon, the Zanj rebellion consisted not only of slaves, but also a smaller number of poor freemen, urban craftsmen, and peasants. Nevertheless, the indentured made up the bulk of Zanj forces, as hundreds and thousands of liberated slaves joined their ranks after every victory.
For the Caliphate, perhaps the worst blow of all came when the black slave soldiers in their army began deserting to join the insurrection. Early Zanj victories were possible due to a number of factors. Firstly, the Zanj knew the marshlands very well, and this familiarity created an important advantage against the Caliphate armies.
Secondly, the Zanj were aware of their own weaknesses and preferred to use guerilla warfare against smaller, more isolated units of Abbasid troops instead of facing the imperial army head-on. Third, despite their nature as a multi-ethnic group of irregular militias, the Zanj army was very disciplined and used this advantage to maximum effect.
Even Zanj women took part in some of the battles, mainly by helping their men run supplies, but sometimes also throwing bricks at the enemy. After a rush of initial successes, which saw the rebels take the ports of Uballa and Abadan, the Zanj turned their attention to an important city of the region - Basra.
However, their first attempt to take this bastion failed, so instead, they decided to build their own capital city on a dry plain Southeast of Basra, calling it Al Mukhtar, the Elect City. Al Mukhtar was built to be an impregnable citadel: it was surrounded by several canals, the largest of which was divided by two bridges, and was enclosed by a large iron chain and two large barriers.
Catapults protected the city, which consisted of clusters of buildings built out of bricks and palm leaves, the largest of which were Ali's palace, a mosque, a prison, and several markets in the city center. Only two years after the start of their rebellion, the Zanj started to mint their own currency, which was used for trade with Bedouin merchants, upon whom the rebels heavily depended for food and other crucial provisions.
Not content with their improvised but surprisingly sophisticated capital, the Zanj rebellion marched on in 871, when it finally took Basra in September of that year. The capture of the city resulted in an indiscriminate massacre of its inhabitants. The Arab historian Al-Masudi claims that the Zanj left 300,000 corpses in their wake, but that number was probably exaggerated.
In any case, the Zanj continued causing problems for the Caliphate by cutting off Baghdad’s supply lines from the South. Then, in the following year, the rebels took Wasit and its surroundings, managing to extend their territory to within 50 miles of Baghdad.
With the rebels now so close to their most spiritually significant city, the Abbasids had no other option but to focus on the Zanj, who had become a real threat to their rule and the Caliphal status quo. In 880, the Caliph’s brother, al-Muwaffaq, was sent to defeat the Zanj army.
In addition to ground troops, his forces consisted of a large fleet which was important to ensure the blockade of the Zanj and the mobile movement of the Caliphate’s army in tough terrain. In a couple of years, al-Muwaffaq managed to inflict several defeats on the Zanj, pushing them back into their capital city of al-Mukhtara.
Thus, he commenced with the blockade of the city. Merchants bringing supplies to al-Mukhtara were prevented from doing so, which soon resulted in widespread starvation within the city walls. To further put on the pressure, Al-Muwaffaq built a fort city of his own facing al-Mukhtara, and named it al-Muwafaqiyya. From there, he hurled molten lead at the Zanj capital.
Seeking to end this conflict quickly, Al-Muwaffaq offered amnesty to the Zanj rebels, promising they would not be returned to slavery in an attempt to break their resolve to fight to the death. In 883, another Abbasid commander, Lulu, requested to join forces with al-Muwaffaq. This swelled the numbers of the besieging army to a whopping 50,000, and on the 5th of August 883, the united Caliphal forces launched a full frontal assault on the rebel city.
After six days of battle, al-Mukhtara fell, Ali ibn Muhammad was beheaded, and the Zanj rebellion was over.
At the end of the day, the Zanj rebellion is a hard conflict to define. As we have established, it was not a rebellion of any particular ethnic group, nor did it aim to end slavery in the Caliphate. It was probably a reactionary rebellion, ignited in response to all the injustice suffered by the slaves working in the Basra marshlands, but without any concrete revolutionary or political goals like abolishing slavery or democratizing the governance in the Caliphate.
The racial element of the rebellion is very important to consider as well, as the vast majority of people participating in the Zanj rebellion were black slaves from Sub-Saharan Africa. A racial hierarchy existed among the slaves of the Caliphate, as white slaves were generally more expensive and considered more able than their black counterparts.
It is not a coincidence then, that black African slaves were imported to work in the Southern Iraqi marshlands, which might have been the toughest place to be a slave in the Caliphate. There is a long list of indicators of the existence of racial discrimination in the Caliphate, perhaps best embodied in a common Arab proverb of the time: “The hungry Zanj steals; the sated Zanj rapes.”
According to the Muslim theologist of the 8th century, Hasan Al-Basri, “The worst of slaves are the Zanj.” Overall, Muslim theologists, rulers, and thinkers tried to justify their racial discrimination in various ways. One of which was through interpreting the Biblical story in which Ham, the son of Noah, was cursed, and his descendants, the Sub-Saharan Africans, had black skin as the sign of this curse.
Another was to rely on the Aristotelian assertion that slaves were slaves by nature. Undoubtedly, such blatant discrimination played a major role in the rebellion, and seeing a constant influx of slaves with the same colour as themselves definitely increased the sense of racial solidarity among the Zanj.
Ali ibn Muhammad probably understood this, as he constantly surrounded himself with black generals to lead the rebellion. Indeed, as the rebellion went on, Ali gradually became less active in its leadership. The construction of Al Mukhtara, for example, was likely the exclusive work of black slaves.
Despite its defeat, the Zanj rebellion had several major consequences. For one thing, large-scale plantation slavery, which we would see later in history in the Americas, would never be practiced again in the Arab World. The effect the rebellion had on exacerbating the decline of the Abbasid regime cannot be understated either, as the agricultural lands of Southern Iraq were devastated, leading to major decreases in food production and tax revenues for the throne.
The decline of the Abbasid Caliphate only continued after this, which we are going to describe in our future episodes. More videos on Islamic history are on the way, so make sure you are subscribed and have pressed the bell button to see them.
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