Thread by @IbneKhan01

Ábd al-Qādir Kan and slavery

It is held by some that Ábd al-Qādir Kan al-Mālikī [1727-1806 CE], the first Almāmī of Futa Toro was an abolitionist who ended slavery wholly.

However, the reality is that he brought the practice of slavery in line with the laws of Sharīáh.

https://twitter.com/rashrashii/status/1379298286457081862

Here we see that:

1. Muslims could not be enslaved

2. Non-Muslim POWs and slaves may be sold

3. Futanke were now Muslim and so could not be enslaved

4. Futanke population still owned slaves

David Robinson, "The Islamic Revolution of Futa Toro", The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 8, No 2 (1975), p. 201

Thus, it was not slavery in of itself with the Almāmī was opposed to and banned, but rather the enslavement of Muslims,

and for this reason the French were not permitted to enslave the inhabitants of Futa Toro, as they were Muslims.

This was an abolishment of slavery practices that contravened the Sharīáh, as a Mālikī scholar it is no surprise that he would put this into place.

We see that the efforts of African scholars focused not on the abolishment of slavery, but on the criticism of the enslavement of Muslims based only upon the colour of their black skin. Such scholars made clear that the reason for slavery was not blackness but rather kufr.