Race and Slavery in the Middle East: An Historical Enquiry

by Bernard Lewis

  20. Jahiz, Kitab al-Hayawan, vol. 2 (Cairo, 1356/1938), p. 314; cf. Rotter, Die Stellung des Negers, p. 100.

  21. Jahiz, AI-Bayan wa'l-tabyin, vol. 3 (Cairo, 1380/1960), pp. 12-13.

  22. Cf. Rotter, Die Stellung des Negers, pp. 98ff.

  23. AI-Sahib ibn `Abbad, Al-Tadhkira fi 'l-Usul al-Khamsa, in Muhammad Al Yasin, ed., Nafa'is al-Makhtutat, 2d ser. (Baghdad, 1373/1954), p. 91.

  24. Translated by E. van Donzel in his article "Ibn al-Jawzi on Ethiopians in Baghdad," in The Islamic World from Classical to Modern Times, ed. C. E. Bosworth, Charles Issawi, Roger Savory, and A. L. Udovitch (Princeton, NJ, 1989), p. 113.

  25. On this literature, see Rotter, Die Stellung des Negers, pp. 10-20: Akbar Muhammad, "The image of Africans in Arabic literature: Some unpublished manuscripts," in Slaves and Slavery in Modern Africa, ed. J. R. Willis, vol. 2 (London, 1985), pp. 47-74. The examples cited are Jamal al-Din Abu' I-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi (d. 1208), Tanwir al-Ghabash fi fadl al-SUddn wa'1-Habash, New Haven, Yale University Library, Landberg 197; Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 1505), Raf' Sha'n al-Hubshan, London, British Museum, Or. 4634; Muhammad al-Nu`man ibn Muhammad ibn `Arraq (sixteenth century), Kitdb Kanz al-Zinad al-Wari ft` Dhikr Abna' al-Saran, Leiden, University library, De Goeje no. MMDLXI; Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Bagt al-Bukhari al-Makki (sixteenth century), Al-Tiraz al-Mangdsh fi Mahdsin al-Hubush, Baghdad, Waqf collection, no. 3031. None of these works has yet been printed. The first three chapters of the Tiraz have been published in German translation (M. Weisweiler, Buntes Prachtgewand [Hanover, 1924]). The Turkish text cited (Rdfi` al-Ghubush fi Fada'il al-Hubush, Ms. Fatih 4360) was written by one `Ali ibn `Abd al-Ra'uf al- Habashi (d. 1623-24) (see Istanbul Kiitiipaneleri Tarih-Cografya yazmalari kataloglart, i, Turkce tarih yazmalart, pt. 3 [Istanbul, 1945], p. 321).

  26. Aghani (1868), vol. 1, p. 32; Aghani (1927), vol. 1, p. 65; cf. Ignaz Goldziher, Muhammedanische Studien, vol. 1 (Halle, 1888), p. 270 (Muslim Studies, vol. 1 [London, 1967], p. 245).

  27. "Ka'I-Zanji in ja`a saraqa wa'in shabi`a zana" (Maydani, Amthal al`Arab, vol. 2, Arabum proverbia, ed. G. Freytag [Bonn, 1839], p. 404). The hadith as cited also allows the Ethiopians two good qualities-skill at providing food and fortitude in adversity. The proverb makes no such allowance.

  28. Hava Lazarus-Yafeh, Some Religious Aspects of Islam (Leiden, 1981), p. 30, citing Al-Bukhari, Sahih, ed. L. Krehl (Leiden, 1862-68). vol. 1, bk. 25, pp. 403ff. (Bab Hadm al-Ka`ba).

  29. Cf. Goldziher, Muhammedanische Studien, vol. 1, p. 269 (Muslim Studies, vol. 1, p. 344); K. Vollers, "Ober Rassenfarben in der arabischen Literatur," in Centenario delta nascita di Michele Amari, vol. 1 (Palermo, 1910), p. 87.

  30. A. J. Wensinck, ed., Concordance et indices de la tradition musulmane, vol. 1 (Leiden, 1936-69), p. 327, where further references are given. See, e.g., Muttaqi, Kanz al-`Ummal, vol. 3 (Haydarabad, 1313/1895-96), p. 197, where this and similar traditions are cited, and Tabari, Ta'rikh, ed. M. J. de Goeje, vol. 1 (Leiden, 1879), pp. 2861-62. Cf. S. D. Goitein, Studies in Islamic History and Institutions (Leiden, 1966), pp. 203-4; G. E. von Grunebaum, Medieval Islam, 2d ed. (Chicago, 1953) p. 209; Rotter, Die Stellung des Negers, pp. 94-95. For some modern examples from Morocco, see Lawrence Rosen, Bargaining for Reality: The Constitution of Social Relations in a Muslim Community (Chicago, 1984), p. 178: "Even a woman can understand the Qur'an.... Even a black man can be learned."

  31. `Abd al-Wahhab al-Sha`rani, Kitab Kashf al-Ghumrna, vol. 2 (Cairo, 1370/ 1950), p. 154.

  32. lbn Maja, Sunan, vol. 1 (Cairo, 1372/1952), p. 597 (Nikah 6); cf. Rotter, Die Stellung des Negers, p. 132.

  33. Muhammad ibn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tahagat al-Kahir, ed. E. Sachau et al., vol. 4, pt. I (Leiden, 1904-40), p. 134, cited in A. S. Tritton, Muslim Theology (London, 1947), p. 13.

  34. A reference to Qur'an, XLIX:13. See above, p. 31. A similar sentiment-hut without racial implications-is found in the Mishnaic ruling that a learned bastard ranks above an ignorant high priest. (Horavoth 13a: The Babylonian Talmud, Seder Nashim, ed. I. Epstein, trans. Israel W. Slotki, vol. 4 [London, 1935], p. 99).

  35. Ibn Hazm, Jamharat Ansab al-Arab, ed. E. Levi-Provencal (Cairo, 1948), p. 1. The same author, in a treatise on morals, admonishes his reader with a no doubt imaginary example: "Even if you were king of all the Muslims you should know that the king of the Sudan, a wretched black man with bare genitals. and ignorant, has a wider kingdom than yours" (Kitab al-Akhlaq wa'l-siyar, ed. and trans. [into French] Nada Tomiche [Beirut, 19611, Arabic text p. 67, trans. p. 86, cited in G. von Grunebaum, Der Islam in Mittelalter [Zurich-Stuttgart, 19631, pp. 536-37). Ibn Hazm didn't care for Jews either. His anti-Jewish tract was analyzed by E. Garcia Gomez, " Polemica religiosa entre Ibn Hazm y Ibn al-Nagrila," Al-Andalus 4 (1936), pp. 1-28, and, with other similar material, by M. Perlmann, "Eleventh-century Andalusian authors on the Jews of Granada," Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 18 (1949), pp. 269ff., esp. 280-84. The Arabic text was published in Cairo in 1380/1960, in a critical edition by Dr. Ihsan `Abbas (Al-Radd `ala 1bn Naghrila al- Yahudi wa-rasa'il ukhra). Ibn Hazm's case against the Jews is basically religious, but with recognizable racial overtones.

  36. Rotter, Die Stellung des Negers, p. 103; Goldziher, Muhammedanische Stud- ien, vol. 1, p. 74 (Muslim Studies, vol. 1, p. 75).

  37. For examples, see Rotter, Die Stellung des Negers, p. 181.

  38. Abu'l-`Ala' al-Ma`arri, Risalat al-ghufran (Cairo, 1321/1903), p. 73; cf. Rotter, Die .Stellung des Negers, p. 180. In one of his letters (The Letters of Abu'l-Ala' of Ma arrat al-Nu man, in Anecdota Oxoniensia, ed. and trans. D. S. Margoliouth (Oxford, 1898], text p. 61, trans. p. 67) Abu'l-`Ala' remarks that "names do not prove any real superiority in their subjects; many a hideous ill-smelling black is called Camphor or Amber; many an ugly creature has the name 'New Moon' or 'Full Moon.' " In another letter, the same author, writing to a friend, sends greetings to his black slave (ghulam). "who, though his skin be black, is more highly esteemed by us than an untrustworthy white" (text p. 41, trans. p. 50).

  39. Ibn Hisham, Surat Rasul Allah, ed. F. Wustenfeld (Gottingen, 1858-59), p. 266; English translation by A. Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad (London, 1955), pp. 183-84: lbn Sa'd, Kitab al-Tabagat, vol. 1. pt. 2, pp. 120ff.: English translation by "Uber S. Moinul Hay and H. K. Ghazanfar, vol. 1 (Karachi, 1967), pp. 484ff.: Vollers. Rassenfarben," pp. 90-91.

  Chapter 5

  1. B. Lewis, Islam from the Prophet Muhammad to the Capture of Constantinople, vol. 2, Religion and Society (New York, 1974), p. 211.

  2. See above, pp. 42 and 65.

  3. Ibn `Abd Rabbihi, A/-`Iqd al-farMd, vol. 3 (Cairo, 1372/1953), pp. 326-27. Translations in Lewis, Islam, vol. 2, pp. 201-6. A Qurayhi is a member of Quraysh, the Meccan Arab tribe to which the Prophet belonged. The kunva was a name formed with Abu ("father of"). Its use, in early Islamic times, was it prerogative of Arabs.

  4. Maslama's father was the Caliph 'Abd al-Malik; his mother was a slave girl. On his career and exclusion, see Eli, s.v. (by H. Lammens); Francesco Gabrieli, "L'Eroe Omayyade Maslamah ibn 'Abd al-Malik," Rendiconti della classe di scienze moral,, storiche e filologiche (Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei), ser. 8, vol. 5/1-2 (1950), pp. 22-39.

  5. For a critical survey of recent theories and literature on the Abbasid revolution, see R. Stephen Humphreys, Islcnnic History: A Framework for Inquiry (Minneapolis, 1988), pp. 99-119.

  6. 'Ala' al-Din 'Ali ibn Husam al-Din al-Muttaqi, Kanz al-'Ummal, vol. 6 (Haydarabad, 1312/1894-98), pp. 214-15.

  7. See Bernard Lewis, Islam in History (London, 1973), pp. 247-48.

  8. Cf. the comments of Ibn al-Mugaffa', "Conseiller" de calife, ed. and trans. Charles Pellat (Paris, 1976), pp. 37-39.

  9. `Abduh Badawi, Al-Shu ard' al-Sud wa-khasa'isuhum fi'i-shi`r al-`arabf (Cairo, 1973), p. 21.

  10. H. Lammens, Le Berceau de I'Islam, vol. 1 (Rome, 1914). pp. 298ff.

  11. Ibn Habib, Kitab al-Muhabbar, ed. Ilse Lichtenstadter (Haydarabad, 1361/ 1942), p. 306.

  12. On Shi'ite abuse
of 'Umar as al-Adlam-the swarthy or dusky-see I. Goldziher, "Spottnamen der ersten Chalifen bei den Shi'iten," Wiener Zeitschrift fiir Kunde des Morgenlandes 15 (1901), pp. 301, 308.

  13. See above, pp. 10ff.

  14. See above, p. 17.

  15. See Frank M. Snowden, Blacks in Antiquity: Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman Experience (Cambridge, MA, 1970); idem, Before Color Prejudice: The Ancient View of Blacks (Cambridge, MA, 1983). There was, however, already in antiquity, an export trade in "better quality" slaves from East Africa to Egypt and, "rarely," to the East. This is attested by a Greek geographical text of the first century A.D. (Lionel Casson, ed. and trans., The Periplus Maris Erythraei [Princeton, NJ, 19891, pp. 55, 59, etc.).

  16. See above, p. 25.

  17. Al-Baladhuri, Ansab al-Ashraf, ed. Muhammad Hamidullah, vol. 1 (Cairo, 1959), p. 505.

  18. Tabari, Ta'rikh, ed. M. J. de Goeje, vol. 1 (Leiden, 1879), p. 3177; cf. G. Rotter, Die Stellung der Negers (Bonn, 1967). p. 53, n. 2.

  19. Jahshiyari, Kitdb al-Wuzara' wa 'l-Kuttab (Cairo, 1938), p. 81; German translation by J. Latz, Das Buch der Wezire and Staatssekretdr ... (Walldorf-Hessen, 1958), p. 129.

  20. Buzurg ibn Shahriyar, Kitab 'Aja'ib al-Hind, ed. P. A. van der Lith (Leiden, 1883-86), pp. 50-60; French translation in Memorial Jean Sauvaget, vol. 1 (Damascus, 1954), pp. 221-27; English translation in Lewis, !slam, vol. 2, pp. 82-87. Similar sentiments were expressed by black slaves in nineteenth-century Arabia; see C. M. Doughty, Travels in Arabia Deserta, 3d ed., vol. 1 (London, 1923), pp. 554-55.

  Chapter 6

  1. For a discussion of Arabic terms for the alien or outsider, see Bernard Lewis, The Political Language of Islam (Chicago, 1988), p. 118, n. 5.

  2. The fullest critical account of Arab tribal rivalries and of "the war between the tribes" that convulsed the Umayyad Caliphate is still that of Julius Wellhausen, The Arab Kingdom and Its Fall (Calcutta, 1927).

  3. On the Mawali, see above, pp. 37ff.

  4. On the Shu'ubiyya, see Ell, s.v. (by D. B. MacDonald): lgnaz Goldzihcr, Muhatnmedanische Studien, vol. 1 (Halle, 1888), pp. 147-216 (Muslim Studies [London, 1976], pp. 173-38); H. A. R. Gibb, "The social significance of the Shu'ubiyya," in his Studies on the Civilization of Islam (London, 1962), pp. 62-73; above, p. 32. 'Abd al-'Aziz al-DUri (Al-Judhar al-ta'rikhiyya lil-Shu'dbiyVa [Beirut, 1962]) discusses the medieval Shu'Ubiyya in the light of recent and current Arab experience.

  5. On the Shu`ubiyya in Spain, see Ignaz Goldziher, " Su`ubijja unter den Muham- medanern in Spanien," Nachrichten Ober Angelegenheiten der D.M.G. 53 (1899), pp. 601-20.

  6. According to a probably late hadith, the Prophet said: "0 people! The Lord is one Lord; the father is one father; the religion is one religion. Arabic is neither father nor mother to any of you, but is a language. Whoever speaks Arabic is an Arab" (Bernard Lewis, Islam from the Prophet Muhammad to the Capture of Constantinople, vol. 2, Religion and Society [New York, 1974], p. 196). This is a far cry from the meticulous distinctions of the age of the conquests.

  7. A term commonly used by Qur'an commentators and other Muslim scholars for these narratives of Jewish and Christian origin is Isra'fliyyat (see EI', s.v. [by G. Vajda]). In later times the word acquired somewhat negative connotations, and came to be used in the sense of superstitious fables.

  8. See, for example, Mas'Udi, Muruj al-dhahab, ed. Charles Pellat (Beirut, 1965-), vol. 1, pp. 44-45, vol. 2, pp. 244, 266, 276, vol. 4, p. 126; Ya'qubi, Ta'rikh, ed. T. L. Houtsma, vol. 1 (Leiden, 1883), pp. 12-13; Muhammad b. 'Abdallah al-Kisa'i, Vita prophetarum, ed. I. Eisenberg (Leiden, 1923), pp. 98-102; Tabari, Ta'rikh, ed. M. J. Goeje, vol. 1 (Leiden, 1879), pp. 187-216 (English translation by William M. Brinner, The History of Tabari, vol. 2, Prophets and Patriarchs [New York, 1987]); Ibn Sa'd, Tabagat, ed. E. Mittwoch (Leiden, 1905), vol. 1, pt. 1, pp. 10-20: al-Tha'labi, Ara'is al-Majalis (Cairo, 1374/1954), pp. 54-61; Ibn Qutayba, Al-Ma arif, ed. Tharwat 'Ukasha, 2d ed. (Cairo, 1969), pp. 23-28; Ibn Hisham, Kitab al-Tijdn fi MulUk Himyar (Haydarabad, 1347/1928-29), pp. 24-40.

  9. As, for example, in the universal chronicle of Rashid al-Din. On some of the mythological genealogies, ser Bahaeddin Ogel, Tiirk Mitolojisi (Ankara, 1971), pp. 73, 145ff., 373ff.. 382ff.

  10. On the Curse of Ham, see chap. 8, n. 9, pp. 123-25.

  11. The Arabic text of this translation is lost, and the hook is known only from it retranslation into Muslim Persian made in the thirteenth century. The Persian text was first edited by James Darmesteter in Journal Asiatique in 1894; reedited with important additional material by Mujtaba Minovi, Nate-i Tansar be Gushnasp (Tehran, 1932); and translated into English by Mary Boyce, The Letter of Tansar (Rome, 1968). A retranslation from Persian into Arabic, with valuable annotation, was made by Yahya al-Khashshab, Kitdb Tansar (Cairo. 1954).

  12. Minovi, Name-i Tansar, p. 41: Boyce, Letter of Tansar, p. 64. In Minovi's annotations to this passage (pp. 64-66), he remarks that while the ancient Persians respected the Byzantines, Indians, and Turks, they despised the Arabs as barbarians who ate lizards and drank camel's milk. Curiously, he documents this only with quotations from Arabic authors, who tell the story in order to rebut Persian accusations.

  13. Ibn al-Faqih al-Hamadani, Mukhtasar Kitab al-Buldan, ed. M. J. de Gocje. vol. 5, Bibliotheca geographorum arahicorum (Leiden. 1885), p. 162. Avicenna, in a mnemonic medical poem, has these lines on human colors:

  14. Ibn Qutayba, Al-Ma arif ed. Tharwat `Ukasha, 2d ed. (Cairo 1969), p. 26.

  15. Jahiz, Kitab al-Hayawan, vol. 2 (Cairo, 1356/1938), p. 314.

  16. Jahiz's essay on the Turks was first edited by G. van Vloten in Jahiz, Tria opuscula, auctore al-Djahiz (Leiden, 1903) and reedited by `Abd al-Salam Muhammad Harun in Jahiz, Rasd'il al-Jahiz, vol. 1 (Cairo, 1385/1965). An English translation was published by C. T. Harley Walker, in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1915), pp. 631-97. For discussions, see Francesco Gabrieli, "La Risala di al-Gahiz sui Turchi," Rivista degli studi orientali 32 (1957), pp. 477-83; Ramazan Sesen, Hilafet Ordusunun Menkibeleri ve Tiirklerin Faziletleri (including a Turkish translation) (Ankara, 1967). On the essay in defense of the blacks, see above, pp. 31-32.

  17. See Susanne Enderwitz, Gesellschaftliche Rang and ethnische Legitimation: Der arabischer Schriftsteller Abu `Utman al-Gahiz (gent 868) fiber die Afrikaner, Perser and Araber in der islamischen Gesellschaft (Freiburg, 1979).

  18. Notably Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi, Kitab al-lrntd' sva'l-Mu'anasa, ed. Ahmad Amin and Ahmad al-Zayn, vol. 1 (Cairo, 1939), pp. 70-93, 211-13: abridged translation in Marc Berge, "Merites respectifs des nations," Arahica 19 (1972), pp. 165-73, and in Joel L. Kraemer, Philosophy in the Renaissance of Islam: Abu Sulaymdn al- Siji.stdni and His Circle (Leiden, 1986), pp. 147-48, where the essay is situated in the intellectual context of the time.

  19. Cf. the remarks of Ibn Sina, above, p. 55.

  20. "Managib al-Turk," in Jahiz, Rasd'il, ed. `Abd al-Salam Harun, vol. I (Cairo, 1965), pp. 66ff.; cf. Kraemer, Philosophy, p. 146.

  21. Cited by Abu Hayyan aI-Tawhidi. Al-Mugabasat, ed. Hasan al-Sandubi (Cairo, 1929), p. 260; translation in Kraemer, Philosophy, p. 146, where other such dicta are cited.

  22. The evolution of Arab attitudes toward the Turks-first their slaves and then their masters-was examined in two important studies by Ulrich W. Haarman: "Ideology and history, identity and alterity: The Arab image of the Turk from the 'Abbasids to modern Egypt," International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 20 (1988), pp. 17596, and "Rather the injustice of Turks than the righteousness of the Arabs-changing 'Ulama' attitudes towards Mamluk rule in the late fifteenth century," Studia Islanuca 68 (1988), pp. 61-77.

  23. Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddima, ed. Etienne Quatremere, vol. 1 (Paris, 1858), p. 155; translations in Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah, trans. F. Rosenthal (New York, 1956), p. 174, and in C. Issawi, An Arab Philosophy of History (London, 1950), p. 46.

  24. Said al-Andalusi, Tahagat al-Umam, ed. L. Cheikho (Beirut, 1912), p. 9: idem. (Cairo, n.d.), pp. 11-12; trans. (into French) R. Blachcre (Paris, 1935), p
p. 3738. Similar statements about the northern and southern peoples are to be found in earlier authors, notably Mas`udi.

  25. For a critical survey of this literature, see Hans Muller, Die Kunst des Sklavenkaufs each arabischen, persischen and tiirkischen Ratgebern vom 10, his Zion 18. Jahrhundert (Freiburg, 1980). For brief examples in English, see Kai-Ka'us ihn Iskandar, Qabtisnama, ed. R. Levy, F. J. W. Gibb Memorial series, n.s., vol. IS (London, 1951), pp. 62-67; English translation by R. Levy. A Mirror for Princes (London, 1951), pp. 99-108; Nasir al-Din Tusi, Akhlciq-i Nasiri; English translation by G. M. Wickens, The Nasirean Ethics (London, 1964), p. 184. The first of these dates from 1082 A.D.; the second from 1235 A.D.

  26. On Ibn Butlan, see Muller, Kunst des Sklavenkaufs, pp. 45-80: and translated excerpts in Lewis, Islam, vol. 2, pp. 243-51.

  27. Kinalizade Alaettin Ali celebi, Ahldk-i A16ive, vol. 2 (Bulaq, 1248/1832-33), pp. 52-65 (cf. Muller, Kunst der Slavenkaufs, pp. 181-87); Gelibolulu Mustafa Ali, Kunh al-Ahhar, vol. 5 (Istanbul, 1869) pp. 9-14; idem, Meva'iddii'n-NeJ'a'is fi kavaidi7- tnecalis (Istanbul, 1956), pp. 152-53; Bernard Lewis, The Muslim Discovery of Europe, rev. ed. (New York, 1988), pp. 154-55; Alan Fisher, "Chattel slavery in the Ottoman Empire," Slavery and Abolition 1 (1980), pp. 40-41.

  Chapter 7

  1. See Bernard Lewis, The Muslim Discovery of Europe, rev. ed. (New York, 1988).

  2. See Andre Miquel, La Geographic hurnaine du monde nutsulman jusqu'au milieu du 11" siecle, vol. 2, Geographic arabe et representation du monde: La terre et l'etranger (Paris, 1975), pp. 127-202 ("L'Afrique noire"): Tadeusz Lewicki, Arabic External Sources for the History of Africa to the South of the Sahara (London, 1974); Yusuf Fadl Hasan, The Arabs and the Sudan, from the Seventh to the Early Sixteenth Century (Edinburgh, 1967); Osman Sid Ahmad Isma'il al-Be'ily, " 'Al-Sudan' and 'Bilad al-Sudan' in early and medieval Arabic writing," Bulletin of the Cairo University-Khartoum 2 (1972); Giovanni Vantini, "Greek and Arab geographers on Nubia (ca. 550 B.C.-1500 A.D.)," in Graeco-Arahica: First International Congress on Greek and Arabic Studies, ed. V. Christides and M. Papathomopoulos, vol. 3 (Athens, 1984), pp. 21-50. Kizobo O'Bweng. "Les Negro-Africains dans les relations Araho- Byzantines (Vc-XI)," in Graeco-Arahica, vol. 3, pp. 85-94. Selected translations in Bernard Lewis. Islam from the Prophet Muhammad to the Capture of Constantinople, vol. 2, Religion and Society (New York, 1974). pp. 106-20. The best-known Arabic sources on medieval black Africa have been conveniently collected by two Russian scholars, L. E. Kubbel and V. V. Matveev, and reedited with Russian translation and notes: Arabskive istoeniki VIII-X vekov po etnografii i istorii Afriki vuzneve Sakhari (Moscow-Leningrad, 1960); V. V. Matveev and L. E. Kubbel, Arabskive istou`niki XXII vekov po et ografii i istorii Afriki yuzneye Sakhari (Moscow-Leningrad. 1965)hereafter Kubbel and Matveev, Arabskive istoeniki (1960). and Matveev and Kubbel, Arabskive i.stoeniki (1965). For an English translation of these and other sources, see N. Levtzion and J. F. P. Hopkins, eds., Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History, trans. J. F. P. Hopkins (Cambridge, 1981). For translations into French, see Joseph M. Cuoq, Recueil des sources arahes concernam l'Afrique occiden- tale du VIII' au XVI' siecle (Bilad al-Sudan) (Paris, 1975). On East Africa, see M. Devic, Les Pays des Zendjs ... d'apres les ecrivains arabes (Paris, 1883); F. Storbeck, "Die Berichte der arabischen Geographen des Mittelalters Ober Ostafrika," Mit- teilungen des Seminars fur Orientalische Sprachen zu Berlin 17, no. 2 (1914), pp. 97169; in general, John Wansbrough, "Africa and the Arab geographers," in Languages and History in Africa, ed. D. Dalby (London, 1970), pp. 89-101.