Your Email:

Subject:

Message:
Entry: Pope Benedict XVI and Islam: Allah the Irrational Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/pope_benedict_xvi_and_islam_allah_the_irrational#1868 Post contents: There are so many historical falsehoods and errors of logic in A. A. Ali's two posts that I almost don't know where to begin, but I will address what is to me the most egregious of his mis-statements: "It abolished slavery" Absolutely false, the exact opposite of the truth. Ali is either a fool or a liar. The Koran contains explicit instructions regarding the institution of slavery. The Arab slave trade lasted longer than the Atlantic slave trade and transported millions of black Africans, particularly from the Sudan, to the Middle East and to North Africa. Eastern Europeans were also enslaved by Muslims. Further, there was no mass movement for the abolition of slavery in the Muslim world, though there were voices raised in opposition to the injustice of the institution and the cruelties of raiding and transportation. Ahmad Bey did abolish slavery in Tunisia in the first half of the nineteenth century, but he did so in his role as a modernizer. I am no fan of imperialism, but it is a fact that the slave trade, both in the Atlantic and the Muslim world, was ended under pressure from the imperial powers, particularly Britain. To this day, slavery persists in the Sudan, and as before it is Muslims enslaving black Africans. I am not writing this put sole blame upon the Arabs or Muslims in general - God knows there is enough blame to go around, and Christians and Jews share guilt - but Ali's comments are so blatantly false that I am compelled to respond strongly. Sent at: 2008 11 21