'File 5/193 II (B 38) Slavery in the Gulf' [‎7r] (18/475)

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT.
EASTERN (Arabia).
March 25, 1930.
CONFIDENTIAL.
Section^-!,
[E 1541/1054/91]
No. 1.
Mr. Bond to Mr. A. Henderson.—(Received Mar
(No. 60.)
Sir,
Jed da, March 6, 1930.
AS instructed in your telegram No. 31 of the 5th ultimo, I have the honour to
enclose a memorandum on slavery and the slave trade as practised in this country,
including the measures adopted to suppress it.
2. I am indebted for much useful information on the subject to Commander
F. Ratsey, R.N., senior naval officer of the Red Sea sloops, and to Munshi A term used in the Middle East, Persia and South Asia to refer to a secretary, assistant or amanuensis. Munshis were employed in the British administration in the Gulf. Ihsanullah.
the Indian vice-consul attached to this Legation.
3. This memorandum should be read in conjunction with Mr. Bullard’s note
on slavery in the Hejaz forwarded to the Foreign Office under cover of his despatch
No. 54 of the 9th June, 1924.
4. I am not making any distribution of this despatch and memorandum from
this post.
I have, &c.
W L. BOND.
Enclosure in No. 1.
Memorandum on Slavery and the Slave Traffic in the Kingdom of the Hejaz and of
Nejd and its Dependencies.
THE practice of slavery in the Hejaz and Nejd presents certain distinctive
features peculiar to this country. The conditions in Arabia are very different from
those prevailing in most, if not all, other countries where slavery exists. In
approaching the subject and in trying to discover a remedy for the existing state of
affairs, it is important to bear in mind from the start the moral and material
considerations which govern the attitude of the people and of the King towards
slavery, and the general attitude of the slaves themselves. It wdll then be easier to
understand the difficulties which beset the problem of its abolition.
2. The Government of the country is a strong theocracy, and the Koranic law
recognises slavery as an institution, although it attempts in many ways to limit its
extent and to provide for the welfare of the slaves themselves. Thus, to free a slave
is held to be an expiation for sins. The Prophet on his deathbed strongly urged his
followers to adopt a tolerant attitude towards slaves and to practise the virtue of
manumission. Moslems are adjured to give their slaves to eat what they eat
themselves, and to give them to wear what they wear themselves. Charity, it is
decreed, should be directed, among other things, towards the liberation of slaves. In
short, while recognising slavery, Islam enjoins equitable, just and sympathetic
treatment of slaves. It does not, however, countenance slavery as practised in
Arabia to-day. It is worth emphasising the Koranic view because one is dealing
with a people who claim to be puritans and with a ruler wffio owes his position to a
fanatical assertion of this claim.
3. Although the present practice of slavery in Arabia in its divers forms
admittedly goes far beyond and outside the limits of Koranic sanction and, in fact,
flagrantly contravenes Sharia law, the treatment of slaves, so far as I have been able
to judge, is, taken all round, in conformity with the exhortations of the Koran.
Socially, there is no stigma or degradation attached to their condition. They enjoy
an equal social status with their masters. A slave, notwithstanding that he is a
slave, may offer his prayers by the side of the King and may dine at the same table
with the most respectable free man. He can transact business, buy and sell in his
own name and of his own initiative. He can and does buy property in his own name,
although such property is legally considered to belong to his master. A freed slave
acquires on his manumission all the rights and privileges, moral and material, of
citizenship. He can even marry a sheikh’s daughter. A slave or his children can
rise to the highest positions in the State. Islamic history is full of instances of
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