Did you know that a 9th century Arab wrote a book entitled "The Superiority of Blacks over Whites"?

[Swagnificent]

This is simply not true.

Actually it is. Educate yourself. Read here about the Mamluks: Mamluk - Wikipedia

The word Mamluk is Arabic for slave. It was used to describe Muslims of slave origin. And the mark of slave origin at that time was white skin. If you've seen any image of a Mamluk it's that of a white person. This is in direct contrast to the Arabs who at that time were defined by their black skin. And in most pictures were depicted as being black.

Here is a picture that shows what I'm saying:

The description below describes the two white individuals in this picture as Mamluks while it describes the black man as a "Bedouin". Bedouin was a term used to describe the pure Arab desert dweller.

The painter of the this picture is clearly telling us that pure Arabs (aka Bedouins) were of a different race than the people called Mamluks. The Mamluks were white while the pure Arab was black.

 

[TEH]

While the conscious are away the c00ns will play.

 

[Swagnificent]

I'm here to represent the berbers

Another great black African people.

Must respect.

 

[EndDomination]

Yup. Al-Jahiz was a black Arab but at that time in Iraq, there was a lot of discrimination against a people called "the Zanj." They were black people from what are today countries in Southeast Africa like Mozambique. In Iraq around that time there was actually a huge slave revolt by the Zanj.

Al-Jahiz wrote that book to counter the racism he saw coming from white Muslims like the Persians against these group of black people called the Zanj. It should be noted that although Al-Jahiz was black, he was not a Zanj. He was an Arab. If you read the book he will say a lot of the time "they say" as an illusion to the fact this is what the Zanj say about blackness rather than his own thoughts.

Its an interesting look into race in 9th century Iraq.

Every source I've found so far has an argument specifying that the Zanj Revolt was not a slave revolt.
It doesn't look like there are any good translations of the book as a whole, or even as a part.

 

[Claudex]

That blog post is so full of inaccuracies and outright lies.

"just as the carriers of black (Abbasid) inspire more fear and fill up more the heart than the carriers of white (Umayyad)"

Abbasids weren't black and Umayyads weren't white either, both of them were arab Qureishis and they were both related by blood and marriage.

I knew something was wrong when I saw China () there in the middle of a prose about blackness.

 

[dontspeakmuch]

That blog post is so full of inaccuracies and outright lies.

"just as the carriers of black (Abbasid) inspire more fear and fill up more the heart than the carriers of white (Umayyad)"

Abbasids weren't black and Umayyads weren't white either, both of them were arab Qureishis and they were both related by blood and marriage.

The Abbasid flag was black

 

[MostReal]

I heard about this Mamluk, gotta do some more research on it

 

[Hiphoplives4eva]

This is simply not true.

It is. Go read

 

[UltimateSource]

Tis amazing a self proclaimed black man like @JudgeJoeGorilla has not made 1 comment in this thread. Don't you love your people? Don't you want to chime in?

 

[flo]

The concept of "black" and "white" didn't even exist back than...

 

[ℒℴѵℯJay ELECTUA]

The concept of "black" and "white" didn't even exist back than...

Prophet Muhammad's last sermon disagrees with you.

 

[Art Barr]

Thank you for this brother.


Art Barr

 

[AndroidHero]

The concept of "black" and "white" didn't even exist back than...

Mohammed said this:

"There is no superiority for an Arab over a non-Arab, nor for a non-Arab over an Arab. Neither is the white superior over the black, nor is the black superior over the white -- except by piety."

So the concept of white and black cleary existed back then.

 

[AndroidHero]

I knew something was wrong when I saw China () there in the middle of a prose about blackness.

"the blacks include the Zanj, Ethiopians, the people of Fazzan, the Berbers, the Copts, and Nubians, the people of Zaghawa, Marw, Sind and India, Qamar and Dabila, China, and Masin"


Yeah, since when were the Chinese black.




And who are the Qamar, Dabila, Mason, Marwa and sind people? I googled them and I couldn't find anything.

 

[ℒℴѵℯJay ELECTUA]

"the blacks include the Zanj, Ethiopians, the people of Fazzan, the Berbers, the Copts, and Nubians, the people of Zaghawa, Marw, Sind and India, Qamar and Dabila, China, and Masin"


Yeah, since when were the Chinese black.




And who are the Qamar, Dabila, Mason, Marwa and sind people? I googled them and I couldn't find anything.

Old terms (old arabic) for empires, surely.
Sind is a province now in Pakistan.
Marwa is Somali.