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Slave Conversion into Islam: Being a Kâfiru’l-mille and Müsellemi’l-mille Slave in the Early Modern Era Crimean Khanate
Abstract
What did it mean to be a Kâfiru’l-mille (infidel) slave in the early modern Crimean Khanate? And how was it different from being a Müsellemi’l-mille (Muslim) slave? How would conversion into Islam effect the master-slave relationship and smooth the integration and absorption process of the slaves into the Crimean society? Were converted slaves (şeref-i İslâm ile müşerref olan) doing this act as a maneuver and attempt to the agency to change or control their fates? If yes, then what were the costs of conversion into Islam for non-Muslim slaves? Slavery studies in the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate at different periods have been historians’ focus since the 1980s. However, many details of this field have been understudied, such as the conversion of slaves, the agency of the slaves, and how this effect their degree of dependency. This study aims to fill this gap by focusing on the agency of the slaves through conversion. By analyzing selected court registers of the Crimean Khanate, a broader picture of the role of conversion in the slave’s life will be drawn. The capital city, Bakhchysarai was inhabited by a huge population of multi-ethnic, multi-cultural slaves. Among those some were Islam converts, and some kept their own faith. As slave raids to non-Muslim neighborhoods were a common practice by Crimean Tatars, the number of non-Muslim slaves who were brought to the Crimean Khanate was high. Ending up as a slave in the Crimean Khanate, conversion was probably seen as one of the ways to accelerate the process of manumission and integration into society by accepting Islam. It was also a way of mitigating relations with the household, getting their sympathy, and mercy and becoming “a member” of the family. By doing so, slaves could also decrease the degree of their dependencies, enjoy more agency and get the trust of the family. By investigating the processes of conversion of non-elite-household slaves in the Crimean Khanate and the potential motivations behind it, this study aims at contributing to the studies on slavery and agency of slaves as well as to the recently developed asymmetrical dependency studies. Key Words: Conversion, Slavery, Islamic Law, Crimean Khanate, Court Registers
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Ottoman Empire
Sub Area
None