(his description of a white slave girl)
A hidden pearl of the sea,
Amidst the (other) pearls, the merchant chose her...
(his description of a black slave girl)
A shiny black girl...
As if molded for him who acquired her,
In ambergris kneaded with musk...

Taken from: Islam, Inc: An Early Business History : an Inquiry Into how Muslim ...Gene W. Heck

Taken from: Musical and Socio-Cultural Anecdotes from Kitab al-Aghani al-Kabir By George Dimitri Sawa

 

Black people are most affected by tarab (enthusiasm-trance while singing-dancing).

 

Anecdote III:276

Sa’id b. Misjah Abu Uthman was the client of Banu Jumah (18), and it was said that he was the client of Banu Nawfal b. al-Harith b. Abd al-Muttalib. He was Meccan and black, a foremost (mutaqaddim) singer from among the outstanding masters (fahl) and leaders. He was the first to compose vocal music (sana’a al-ghina) among them and he copied and transferred (naqala) the singing (ghina) of the Persians to Arabic singing. He then went to Syria and learned Greek melodies (akhadha alban al-Rum), and the melodies of the barbiton (19) players (barbatiyya), and the octoechos (ustukhusiyya (1)). He then went to Persia……………

 

Anecdote V:170-1

People did not use to teach to beautiful (hasna) slave girls, but instead taught it to the yellow (asfar) and the black-skinned girls. The first to teach the prized (muthamman) slave girls was my father Ibrahim al-Mawsili; he did an excellent job of training them, such that he increased their worth. Abu Uyayna b. Muhammad b. Abi Uyayna alMuhallabil (2) fell in love with a slave girl named Aman, but her master raised her price; he kept sending her to learn from Ibrahim and Ishaq, and every time she learned more (zada) songs and got better at singing, he raised her price further.

 

Anecdote VI:171-2

(Malik (21) asked Ibn Abbad to sing one of his songs. Ibn Abbad said,) I sang for him with reticence, shyness, and modesty (ihtisham). When I finished he looked at me and said: By God, you did well, but your throat (halq) is like that of a whore (zaniya).

 

Taken from: Und der Kalif beschenkte ihn reichlich: Auszuge aus dem Buch der Lieder Abu al-Faraj al-Isbahani    H. Erdmann, 1977

 (page numbers from the Bulaq edition)

 

Vol1 p130-135

The black poet Nusayb (3)(d.726): goes before his first trip to Egypt to consult his sister:

My sister was sensible and smart. To her I said: Dear little sister! I wrote poetry. I want to go to Abdal'aziz (governor of Egypt) and hope that the Blessed One God will grant you, your mother, and the other slaves in my kinship through Abdal'aziz the freedom.  We belong to God, and we return to Him! She cried out. O Mother's son! You are of black skin. Do you want to become the laughing stock of the people ?! Then I asked her to listen to my verses, and when she heard them, she said: Excellent, by God, my dear brother! This is truly a tremendous hope for us! Go with God's blessing!....

 

Then came the chamberlain and reported the poet Aiman ibn Khuraim (5). Abdal'aziz and let him in, and after sitting down he asked him: O Aiman! How much, do you think, is this slave worth? Aiman looked at me and answered, He's good for a camel-shepherd. I estimate it at a hundred dinars (13). But he is poetic and articulate! Abdal'aziz replied. Did you say he's writing poems? Yes!; Then he's only worth thirty dinars! O Aiman, I set it up in value, and you put it down ?! Because he's stupid, O prince! What does he have to do with poetry? Can such a person even be a good poet ?!  Recite him something, Nusaib (3)! I did as I was told, and Abdal'aziz asked Aiman: What do you think of his verses? Verses of a black! The best poet of the Negroes! By God, he's better than you! As I, O Prince?  Yes, as you! By God, O Prince, you're getting tired of one thing and just looking always for something new! You're lying! If it were so, I would not have endured you so long! You get yourself greeted with me, eat with me, lie on my cushions and carpets, and still have the leprosy! So allow me to move to your brother Bischr in Iraq. Let me take you the post coach! Already approved! And Aiman went to Bischr.

 

Nusaib (3) received from Abdal'aziz an appropriate gift of money, but hid this and returned to Medina as a poor person. After spending a while there, he bargained for his mother, bought her and freed her.

For twice the amount he bought the mother of his mother and set her also free. Then came a cousin from his mother's side, Suhaim, and begged Nusaib to buy him free, but Nusaib replied: By God, I have nothing left. But if I move away again, I can take you with me. Maybe God will arrange for your release. When Nusaib set off again, he handed over one of his own slaves to the owner of Suhaim, so that he could keep the camels in his place, and took Suhaim with him. Later he inquired about his purchase price, paid the money to the owner, and released Suhaim. One day he came back to Suhaim when he was dancing with the black slaves and playing music. Nusaib was very displeased, and he scolded him for that. But Suhaim said: If only you have helped me to freedom, so that I may behave the way you want. - I will never be able to do that. If you had released me to fulfil your family responsibilities and my right, I should be free to do whatever I want. And I will dance, play, and do whatever pleases me. Then Nusaib went away, saying: O Suhaim, I must complain of you, for you have denied me any gratitude. Yes, for you I had camels carry me far to knock on doors and ask for you, and I often had to say thank you to rulers. Quick forget you have your slave plagues, turn my back to these days now, show a bad and a shabby behavior.

 

Nusaib (3) once came to Omar ibn Abdal'aziz after he became caliph. Omar said: Hey you, Black! You're the one who exposes women with his love poems? I gave this up, Nusaib insisted, and swore to God to stop making love. Those present testified and praised Nusaib. Then the caliph said: If that is so, put forward your request! I am afflicted with daughters; my colour has rubbed off on to them, and they are left on my hands. I don’t want blacks for them, and whites don’t want them. And what do you want? That you pay them a pension and pay me my travel expenses. Omar complied, offering him the jewel of his sword and two robes worth thirty dirhams (20).

 

Vol1 p136

Nusaib (3) once came to the caliph Abdalmalik (21) and had breakfast with him. The caliph asked: Do you have a poem we can talk about? May I speak without fear of punishment? Yes. My color is pitch-black, my hair is woolly, my appearance repulsive. I did not attain the favor which you have vouchsafed me by the honor of my father, or my mother, or my tribe. I attained it only by my mind and my tongue. I adjure you by God. O Commander of the Faithful, do not cut me off from that by which I have attained my position with you and let me not recite any poems today! And the caliph excused him.

 

Vol1 p138

Nusayb (3) had a son who sought to marry an Arab woman; he had this son beaten for aspiring to such a marriage, which he himself regarded as improper, and he advised the girl’s guardian to find her a true Arab husband.

 

Vol1 p140-1

Nusaib (3) was nicknamed Abu l-Hadschna, father of the earring. A poet from the Hijaz (14) once wrote the following mockery of him: I have seen the earring of my father in dismay, for he resembles the beasts, those black, very dangerous ones. Although he is suppressed by his black color, he himself has the face of a devilish despot. Do not you want to answer that? They asked Nusaib, but he said, No! If I ever wrote a joke on someone, I would answer him. But God has brought me to prosperity through the gift of the poets, and I have resolved to never speak evil in verse. That scoff just characterized me with my black skin color, and he's right about it. Shall I recite to you as I describe myself? They answered in the affirmative, and Nusaib said:

Blackness does not diminish me, as long as l have this tongue and this stout heart.

Some are raised up by means of their lineage; the verses of my poems are my lineage!

Now much better a keen-minded, clear-spoken black than a mute white.

Noblemen with a noble pedigree do not like my gift of poetry, but I did not possess malicious joy.

If I am jet-black, musk too is very dark— and there is no medicine for the blackness of my skin.

 

Taken from: Race and color in Islam Bernard Lewis - 1971 –

 

Vol2 p149

The Abs (15) pursued and fought them, and Antara (6), who was present, was called on by his father to charge. Antara is a slave, he replied, he does not know how to charge—only to milk camels and bind their udders. Charge! cried his father, and you are free. And Antara charged.

 

Vol20 p25

Nusayd  (4) said to himself in a panegyric addressed to Caliph Harun al-Rashid (17):

Black man, what have you to do with love?

Give over chasing white girls if you have any sense.

An Ethiop black like you has no means of access to them.

 

Taken from: Musiques sur le fleuve : les plus belles pages du Kitâb al- Aghân ; Jacques Berque

 

Vol XV p206-207

Ma'dikarib (who fought in all early battles of Islam) said: If I went alone in a litter by all the water points of the Mu'add, I would have no fear of being defeated there, except to meet there their two free or their two slaves. Both free? Amir ibn Tufayl (7) and Utayba ibn al Harith (8). The two slaves? The Black of Bani Abs (15)(Antara) and al Sulayk ibn al Sulaka (9). But I have met them all. Amir ibn Tufayl was quick to throw the spear on the mere clue of the voice. Utayba was ahead of the loaded horses and followed them to the retreat. Antara had violent furies and didn't flinch very much. Sulayk, for his part, made distant hikes, like the offensive lion. And, they asked him, what do you say about Abbas ibn Mirdas (10)? This even he said of myself: Amr when he died, I would say: the Zubayds (11) will be trampled underfoot, for Amr perished to rescue them. And he got up in a bad mood, realizing that they had wanted to denigrate him by referring to Abbas.

 

Taken from: Abyad and the Black Arabs: Refuting the Would-be Refuters by Wesley Muhammad, PhD 2011.

 

Vol7 p20

He reports the story of the pitch-black (adlam) Arab poet al-Sayyid (16) al-Himyari (d. 789) – a Yemeni like Kereszte’s tan boy. In this story we are told that al-Sayyid used to carouse with the young men of the camp, one of whom was as dark as he. While both boys had extremely dark skin, the other boy had thick nose and lips and thus had a general Zanj appearance (muzannaj). Al-Sayyid (16) had foul-smelling armpits and as the two pitch-black Arabs were jesting together one day, al-Sayyid said: You are a Zanji in your nose and lips! To which the youth replied: And you are a Zanji in your colour and armpits!

 

Taken from: Und der Kalif beschenkte ihn reichlich: Auszuge aus dem Buch der Lieder Abu al-Faraj al-Isbahani    H. Erdmann, 1977

 

As soon as everything was settled and the marriage agreed, ad-Dallal went to the woman and said: Now the time has come for the man to marry you. He will come tonight. But the moment he comes to see you, you will be so excited, lusting, and filled that you will break over him like a dam. He will stain you and never come back to you. And you will be the most miserable woman, and you will have made the other women whom the man will later possess unhappy. What shall I do about it? Asked the woman ad-Dallal, who replied: You must know how to heal your shame and illness and relieve your lust. You know better, the woman said and ad-Dallal explained to her: Nothing is more beneficial than the intercourse. If you are not afraid of shame, send for a Negro to satisfy your desire and avert the evil of your shame. No way! The argument between the two continued until he finally suggested to the woman: So I must probably alleviate your lust, even though I really needed it myself. The woman was happy and said: That's easy to hide. And ad-Dallal drove it with her until he had satisfied his lust for her and said: You have your peace now and are safe from shame. But I am as before. Afterwards ad-Dallal went to her spouse and said: I have agreed with your wife that you will attend her tonight. But now you are a married man, and the women of Medina especially love a long intercourse. I'm sure when you're sleeping with her, you're almost ready to get up. She will hate you and find you abominable. For nothing in the world will she ever come to you again and never look you in the face again. In this way ad-Dallal spoke to the man until he realized that he was agitated and asked him: What then should I do? You look for a Negress and do it with her two or three times, until your lust has calmed down. If you go to your wife tonight, she'll love you for everything. God forbid me! Fornication, and even with a Negress - no, I do not! After a long discussion finally ad-Dallal said: So do it with me, so that your lust and your pleasure calm down! The man was happy and satisfied to him once or twice. Then ad-Dallal told him: Everything is fine now, and you can be in good spirits. You will go to your wife and give her a snooze, which will fill her with pleasure and joy. So ad-Dallal always slept with the women before the husbands touched her, and the men drove it with him before they went to their wives. This remained ad-Dallal's habit until the caliph Sulaiman, obsessed with tremendous jealousy, learned of it. Sulaiman wrote to his governor to have ad-Dallal and all the other shameless journeymen in Medina and Mecca relieved. These guys, wrote the caliph, do it with the Quraishite (12) women and spoil them!

Taken from: Africanism; Blacks in the Medieval Arab Imaginary by Nader Kadhem 2023

 

On the day that the Messenger arrived in Medina, Zanj and Abyssinians played with their spears and shields in the mosque. Also, the first singers in Arab culture were blacks, for example, Ma’bid bin Wahab and Ibn Misjah. The latter, one of the best, brought singing from Persians to Arabs.

 

Al-Farazdaq said: Perhaps, some beautiful tender zinji girls … carry an oven (vagina) of blazing fire. (22)

(1) Ustukhusiyya: the eight Greek melodic modes

(2) Abu Uyayna b. Muhammad b. Abi Uyayna al Muhallabil: He was a great-grandson of al-Muhallab and the son of a governor of al-Rayy under Caliph al-Manṣur. Towards the middle of the 2nd/8th century he became known in Baṣra through his love poems.

(3) black poet (Nusaib) Nusayb ibn Rabah (d726) court poet for the Caliph Abd al Malik.

(4) Nusayd  said to himself in a panegyric addressed to Caliph Harun al-Rashid: this is a different Nusayd (d791) and called Nusayd the Younger.

(5) poet Aiman ibn Khuraim: Ayman b. Khuraym (d. ca. 80/700); an Arab poet favored by the Umayyads.

(6) Antara: Antarah ibn Shaddad al-Absi; (525-608) a pre-Islamic Arab knight and poet. Born in Najd in Arabia. He grew up a slave and is described as an Arab crow owing to his dark complexion.

(7) Amir ibn Tufayl:  Amir ibn al-Tufayl ibn Malik ibn Jaʿfar was a chieftain of the Banu 'Amir and a poet. He was the worst Bedouin enemy of the prophet Muhammad and violated the protection covenant established between Muhammad and Abu Bara by leading an expedition of Sulaymi tribesmen that massacred dozens of Muslim missionaries at Bi'r Ma'una.

(8) Utayba ibn al Harith: (c. 562 – 13 March 624) was a cousin and a companion of Muhammad.

(9) al Sulayk ibn al Sulaka: the third of the original trio of the: Crows of the Arabs= black poets with Arab father and Black mother (after Antara and Khufaf); from pre-islamic times.

(10) Abbas ibn Mirdas: (d. ca. 639); b. Abi ʿAmir b. Harit̲h̲a b. ʿAbd Kays, of Sulaym, Arabian poet. A sayyid in his tribe by noble descent on both sides, he won renown as a warrior as well as a poet.

(11) Zubayds: is a large Arab tribe that migrated to Iraq, and Ahwaz before and after the Islamic conquest. Originally from Zabid in Yemen.

(12) Quraishite women: the Quraish were the tribe of the prophet Mohamed.

(13) Dinars: gold coin of one mithqal (4-5 gr of gold).

(14) Hijaz: the province of Mecca.

(15) The Banu Abs are an ancient Bedouin tribe that originated in central Arabia. They form a branch of the powerful and numerous Ghatafan tribes. 

(16) Sayyid is a surname of people descending from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali, sons of Muhammad's daughter Fatima and his cousin and son-in-law Ali.

(17) Harun al-Rashid: (763 – 809) was the fifth Abbasid Caliph.

(18) The Banu Jumah was an Arab clan of the Quraysh. They are notable for being allies to the polytheist Meccans and being in war with the Muslims.

(19) The barbiton, or barbitos is an ancient stringed instrument related to the lyre known from Greek and Roman classics.

(20) Dirham: silver coin of the Arab world (3 gr of silver).

(21) Caliph Abd al Malik ibn Marwan(644 - 705).

(22) Jahiz (Sudan 869) has a different version of this:

Al Farazdaq was the one specialist of women and he had tried all races and remained unsatisfied. So he finally married Umm Makkiya the Zanj women and stayed with her. Forgetting all others because of her qualities. He made the following verse:
How many a tender daughter of the Zanj

walks about with a hotly burning oven

as broad as a drinking bowl.