Muslims for and Against Slavery: Debates on the European Abolitionism Within the Muslim Elite of Saint-Louis, Senegal (1844)

This article explores the efforts of an inquiry in Saint-Louis, Senegal to abolish slavery in the nascent French colony between 1842 and 1844. It discusses the perspectives of a professional Muslim elite and highlights those who resisted slavery and those resisting abolition. The article thus demonstrates the complex positions Muslims took in facing emancipation and their implications for relationships between them and French colonialism. On the one hand, those Muslims in favour of the ransoming of enslaved people cited the Quran to assert the conditions under which slavery was permitted or denied, stressing the illegality of the current practice in Saint-Louis. On the other hand, those resisting emancipation claimed that abolitionism would destroy their society and traditional ways of living. Debates revolved around the organization of labour markets and the indemnity proposed by the French government to release captives from African or European masters. Those for and against slavery both drew their arguments on Islamic tenets, which shows that different ideas of liberty and society were mostly grounded in social classes rather than a single Islamic discourse.