As If Silent and Absent: Bonds of Enslavement in the Islamic Middle East

288 Pages·2007·1.11 MB·English

by  Prof. Ehud R. Toledano

as if silent and absent

ehud r. toledano
As If Silent
and Absent
bonds of enslavement in the islamic middle east
yale university press new haven & london
Copyright © 2007 by Yale University.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form
(beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and
except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers.
Set in Scala types by Binghamton Valley Composition.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Toledano, Ehud R.
As if silent and absent : bonds of enslavement in the Islamic Middle East / Ehud R. Toledano.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-300-11461-4 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-300-12618-1 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Slavery—Middle East—History. I. Title.
HT1316.T645 2007
306.3'620956—dc22 2006036927
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Commit-
tee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Maya and Iddo Toledano,
my beloved children, now lovely young adults,
for whose presence and love I am forever grateful

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Note on Transliteration and Terminology xi
Introduction: Between Now and Then—The Pain Lingers On 1
Chapter 1. Understanding Enslavement as a Human Bond 9
Chapter 2. Leaving a Violated Bond 60
Chapter 3. Turning to the “Patron State” for Redress 108
Chapter 4. Opting for Crime in Order to Survive 153
Chapter 5. Taming the Unknown with the Familiar 204
Concluding Remarks 255
Bibliography 263
Index 271

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
this book was conceived in a series of three scholarly formative
events. I was first made keenly aware of the need to develop a renewed
approach to the study of Ottoman enslavement when preparing for, and
then participating in, a workshop organized at Emory University in May
2003 to discuss a “roadmap” for the third volume of the Cambridge World
History of Slavery.I owe a great deal to the editors, Professors Stanley En-
german and David Eltis, and the other participants for a most stimulating
exchange of views. Some of the main ideas in the book were then also
tried out on the participants of a conference on the history of the eastern
Mediterranean, which took place in Antakya, Turkey, in May 2003. My
gratitude goes to the organizers and participants for comments on my
paper, which after significant elaboration became Chapter 5 of this book.
The seeds sown at Emory and Antakya were further cultivated in a con-
ference entitled “Slavery, Islam, and Diaspora,” convened in October
2003 at York University, Toronto, by Professor Paul E. Lovejoy. Again, the
convener and his team, especially Behnaz A. Mirzai, Ismael Musah Mon-
tana, Yacine Daddi Addoun, and the other participants deserve much
credit for comments and discussions around the keynote address I was
honored to deliver at the conference. A writing spree came while I was a
guest of the Maison Mediteranéene at Aix-en-Provence in June 2003. The
director, my friend Professor Robert Ilbert, and his colleagues provided
ix