Notable Afro-Iraqis
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- Abbas Al Harbi – Australian theatre and film director, screenwriter, playwright [20] [21]
عراقيون أفارقة | |
|---|---|
| Total population | |
| 1,500,000–2,000,000 (Self-proclaimed) [1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Basra, Maysan, Dhi Qar | |
| Languages | |
| Arabic Swahili (L2 minority) | |
| Religion | |
| Shia Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Afro-Jordanians, Afro-Palestinians, Afro-Syrians, Afro-Saudis, Al-Akhdam, Afro-Omanis |
Afro-Iraqis are Iraqi people of African Zanj heritage. Historically, their population has concentrated in the southern port city of Basra, as Basra was the capital of the slave trade in Iraq. [2] Afro-Iraqis speak Arabic and mostly adhere to Islam. Some Afro-Iraqis can still speak Swahili along with Arabic. [3]
Afro-Iraqi leaders claim that there are roughly between 500,000 and 1,500,000 Afro-Iraqis, however this is not verified by official figures. [4] [5] [6] [7] Their origins date back to the time of the Arab slave trade and slavery in Iraq between the 9th century AD to the 19th century AD. [8] [9]
Many are from the district of Zubair, descendants of the people who came to Iraq from East Africa. Some came as sailors, whereas others came as traders, immigrants, religious scholars, or enslaved people over the course of many centuries, beginning in the 9th century CE. [10]
Arab myths[ citation needed ] agree that the Cushitic king Nimrod crossed from beyond the waters of East Africa in the earliest times with an army, and established a civilization. Many[ which? ] existing sites in Iraq are still named after Nimrod. The Quran does not mention Nimrod by name, but Arab stories about Nimrod have resulted in him being referenced as a tyrant in Muslim cultures.
Jewish tradition recounts the tale of King Nimrod as well. It is stated in the book of Genesis that Nimrod was a mighty hunter of great renown and the first to build cities over the face of the world. He ruled in Mesopotamia, which includes modern-day Iraq.
Because of the legendary Nimrod's Cushitic origin (often identified with the historical Kingdom of Kush in what is today southern Egypt and northern Sudan), many believe that Afro-Iraqis now living in areas are his literal descendents. This is unlikely to be literally true for all afro-Iraqi citizens, as their presence in Iraq dates back only to the 9th century CE, [10] whereas the Kingdom of Kush ended in the 6th century CE.
However Black Iraqis are the descendants of East African coastal Bantu peoples, likely the Swahili people, who were enslaved and brought to Iraq in the 9th century during the Arab slave trade to slavery in the Abbasid Caliphate to work on agricultural fields or as laborers. Although some African migrants came to Iraq as sailors and laborers the majority were brought as slaves in the 9th century. [11] Chattel slavery continued for a thousands years, and African slaves were still trafficked to Ottoman Iraq in the 19th-century, being a part of slavery in the Ottoman Empire.
Officially, the import of slaves via the Indian Ocean slave trade of the Persian Gulf was prohibited by the Suppression of the slave trade in the Persian Gulf in january 1847. This was however a nominal prohibition, and the slave trade continued. Slavery in Iraq was formally banned in 1924, [12] [13] by royal decree issued by king Faisal I of Iraq. [14]
The Arab Muslim institution of slavery allowed enslaved people to own land, and enslavement was not generally hereditary. Conversion to Islam sometimes enabled enslaved people to escape their condition. Skin color played a distinctive role even amongst slaves, however, and discrimination based on skin colour existed, and continues to be a problem in Iraqi society. Today, many Afro-Iraqis activists report that they are denied job opportunities on the basis of their skin colour and ethnic background. Afro-Iraqis are well known as street musicians, as they historically experienced employment discrimination. [15] [16] Afro-Iraqis are also frequently called "Abeed", a pejorative meaning "slave" in Arabic. [17]
During the regime of Saddam Hussein from 1968 to 2003, Afro Iraqis had some sort of representation. This was faded away after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Most Afro-Iraqis still are able to maintain rituals related to healing that are of Zanj origin. The languages used in these rituals are Swahili and Arabic. Percussion instruments such as drums and tambourines are used in these ceremonies. Songs such as Dawa Dawa are in a syncretic mixture of Arabic and Swahili. The song, which is about curing people of illness, is used in the shtanga ceremony, for physical health. Another ceremony, called nouba, takes its name from the Arabic word for paroxysm or shift, as Sophi performers take turns at chanting and dancing to ritualistic hymns. [3] There are also unique ceremonies to remember the dead and for occasions such as weddings. [15] Although the vast majority of Afro-Iraqis are Muslim, a shrinking minority still practices these traditions. [18] [19] Few Afro-Iraqis can still speak Swahili. [3]
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Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in socially based systems of racial classification in the Western world, the term "black" is used to describe persons who are perceived as dark-skinned compared to other populations. It is most commonly used for people of sub-Saharan African ancestry, Indigenous Australians and Melanesians, though it has been applied in many contexts to other groups, and is no indicator of any close ancestral relationship whatsoever. Indigenous African societies do not use the term black as a racial identity outside of influences brought by Western cultures.
Zanj is a term used by medieval Muslim geographers to refer to both a certain portion of Southeast Africa and to its Bantu inhabitants. It has also been used to refer to East Africans collectively by Arab sources. This word is also the origin of the place-names Zanzibar and the Sea of Zanj.
The Zanj Rebellion was a major revolt against the Abbasid Caliphate, which took place from 869 until 883. Begun near the city of Basra in present-day southern Iraq and led by one Ali ibn Muhammad, the insurrection involved both enslaved and freed East Africans exported in the Indian Ocean slave trade and transported to slavery in the Abbasid Caliphate in the Middle East, principally to drain the region's salt marshes. It grew to involve slaves and freemen, including both Eastern Africans and Arabs, from several regions of the Caliphate, and claimed tens of thousands of lives before it was fully defeated.
Afro-Arabs, African Arabs, or Black Arabs are Arabs who have predominantly or total Sub-Saharan African ancestry. These include primarily minority groups in the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. The term may also refer to various Arab groups in certain African regions.
Abeed or abīd, is an Arabic word meaning "servant" or "slave". The term is usually used in the Arab world and is used as an slur for slaves, which dates back to the Arab slave trade. In recent decades, usage of the word has become controversial due to its racist connotations and origins, particularly among the Arab diaspora.
Slavery in the Ottoman Empire was a major institution and a significant part of the Ottoman Empire's economy and traditional society.
The Swahili coast is a coastal area of East Africa, bordered by the Indian Ocean and inhabited by the Swahili people. It includes Sofala ; Mombasa, Gede, Pate Island, Lamu, and Malindi ; and Dar es Salaam and Kilwa. In addition, several coastal islands are included in the Swahili coast, such as Zanzibar and Comoros.
Afro-Iranians are Iranian people of African Zanj heritage. Most Afro-Iranians are concentrated in the coastal provinces of Persian Gulf such as Hormozagan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Bushehr, and Khuzestan.
The Shirazi people, also known as Mbwera, are a Bantu ethnic group inhabiting the Swahili coast and the nearby Indian ocean islands. They are particularly concentrated on the islands of Zanzibar, Pemba and Comoros.
In the Arab world, racism targets non-Arabs and the expat majority of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf coming from South Asian groups as well as Black, European, and Asian groups that are Muslim; non-Arab ethnic minorities such as Armenians, Africans, the Saqaliba, Southeast Asians, Jews, Kurds, and Coptic Christians, Assyrians, Persians, Turks, and other Turkic peoples, and South Asians living in Arab countries of the Middle East.
The history of slavery in the Muslim world began with institutions inherited from pre-Islamic Arabia.
Afro-Palestinians are Palestinians of Black African heritage. In the Gaza Strip, around 1% of the population is estimated to be black, with roughly 11,000 Afro-Palestinians residing in Gaza City's Al Jalla’a district prior to October 2023. In Jerusalem, an estimated population between 200-450 reside in a historic African enclave around Bab al-Majlis, in the Muslim Quarter, as well as communities in other areas of Jerusalem such as Beit Hanina and A-Tur.
The trans-Saharan slave trade, also known as the Arab slave trade, was a slave trade in which slaves were mainly transported across the Sahara. Most were moved from sub-Saharan Africa to North Africa to be sold to Mediterranean and Middle Eastern civilizations; a small percentage went the other direction.
The Indian Ocean slave trade, sometimes known as the East African slave trade, involved the capture and transportation of predominately black African slaves along the coasts, such as the Swahili Coast and the Horn of Africa, and through the Indian Ocean. The areas impacted included East Africa, Southern Arabia, the west coast of India, Indian ocean islands and southeast Asia including Java. The source of slaves was primarily in sub-saharan Africa, but also included other parts of Africa and the Middle East, Indian Ocean islands, as well as south Asia. While the slave trade in the Indian Ocean started 4,000 years ago, it expanded significantly in late antiquity with the rise of Byzantine and Sassanid trading enterprises. Muslim slave trading started in the 7th century, with the volume of trade fluctuating with the rise and fall of local powers. Beginning in the 16th century, slaves were traded to the Americas, including Caribbean colonies, as Western European powers became involved in the slave trade. Trade declined with the abolition of slavery in the 19th century.
Attitudes of medieval Arabs to Black people varied over time and individual attitude, but tended to be negative. Though the Qur'an expresses no racial prejudice, ethnocentric prejudice towards black 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. On the other hand, the Afro-Arab author Al-Jahiz, himself having a Zanj grandfather, wrote a book entitled Superiority of the Blacks to the Whites, and explained why the Zanj were black in terms of environmental determinism in the "On the Zanj" chapter of The Essays.
Afro-Saudis, also known as African Saudis and Black Saudis, are Saudi citizens of partial or full black African heritage. They are spread all around the country, but they are mostly found in the major cities of Saudi Arabia. Afro-Saudis speak Arabic and adhere to Islam. While some black Saudis descend from slaves brought through the Arab slave trade, the majority descend from Muslim pilgrims, primarily from West Africa, who settled in the cities of Mecca and Jeddah.
Afro-Omanis are Omani people of African Zanj heritage. Most live in the coastal cities of Oman, with many speaking Arabic and adhering to Islam. Their origins date back to the time of the Arab slave trade and era Slavery in Oman, and when Zanzibar was a part of the Omani Empire.
Slavery existed in the territory of the modern state of Iraq until the 1920s.
Chattel slavery was a major part of society, culture and economy in the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) of the Islamic Golden Age, which during its history included most of the Middle East. While slavery was an important part also of the preceding practice of slavery in the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), it was during the Abbasid Caliphate that the slave trade to the Muslim world reached a more permanent commercial industrial scale, establishing commercial slave trade routes that were to remain for centuries.
Open chattel slavery existed in the region of Palestine until the 20th-century. The slave trade to Ottoman Palestine officially stopped in the 1870s, when the last slave ship is registered to have arrived, after which slavery appeared to have gradually diminished to a marginal phenomena in the census of 1905. However, the former slaves and their children still continued to work for their former enslavers, and were reported to still live in a state of de facto servitude in the 1930s. Many members of the Black Palestinians minority are descendants of the former slaves.
Black or African Iraqis, who number between 1.5 and 2 million, are believed to have first migrated from East Africa to Iraq after the birth of Islam.
Salah Ruhais Salman, vice-president of the Iraqi Freedom Movement, a political party established to defend the rights of Iraqis of African descent ... [says] "There are around 1.5 million of us in Iraq but none of us occupies any position in the Iraqi administration."
It is noteworthy that their marginalization persists although they exceed about 1.5 million, according to the Free Iraqi Movement Vice President Salah Ruhais Salman, or 2 million, according to a statement made by the secretary-general of the movement, Abdel Hussein Abdel Razzak.
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| Secondary Afro-American diaspora |
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