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ABSTRACT
Ziba Khanum (d. 1932) was, an African woman, a slave in the city of Yazd in the second half of the nineteenth century. She bore her master a son who, in accordance with Islamic law, should have inherited part of his father’s wealth but did not. Although she is subaltern, information about her life and the life of her son, Ghulam ‘Ali Siyah, can be recovered from family oral histories. The son, an Afro-Iranian merchant, converted to the Baha’i religion, traveled to Palestine and to India, and became a wealthy and notable person in Yazd. Ziba Khanum lived in her son’s household, with his children and grandchildren until the end of her life. Some of her descendants now live in the United States. This paper will discuss issues of race, gender, slavery, assimilation, sexuality. and religion as experienced by an Afro-Iranian family in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 The only doctoral dissertation written on the history of Iranian slavery appears to be Behnaz A. Mirzai’s ‘Slavery, the Abolition of the Slave Trade, and the Emancipation of Slaves in Iran (1828-1928),’ (Ph.D. diss., York University, Ontario, Citation2004) later published as A History of Slavery and Emancipation in Iran, 1800–1929 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2017). By the same author, see also ‘African Presence in Iran: Identity and its Reconstruction,’ in O. Petre-Grenouilleau, ed., Traites et Esclavages: Vieux Problemes, Nouvelles Perspectives? (Paris: Société Française d’Histoire d’Outre-mer, Citation2002), 229–46; ‘The Slave Trade and the African Diaspora in Iran’ in Abdul Sheriff, ed., Monsoon and Migration: Unleashing Dhow Synergies (Zanzibar: ZIFF, Citation2005); and ‘Afro-Iranian Lives’ (2007), video. Niambi Cacchioli has also done work in this area: see, ‘Disputed Freedom: Fugitive Slaves, Asylum, and Manumission in Iran (1851-1913),’ UNESCO website (http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CLT/dialogue/pdf/Disputed%20Freedom.pdf). Also, see my own work on enslaved Africans in Iran: Anthony A. Lee, ‘Enslaved African Women in Nineteenth-Century Iran: The Life of Fezzeh Khanom of Shiraz,’ Iranian Studies 45, no. 3 (May Citation2012): 417-437; ‘Half the Household Was African: Recovering the Histories of Two Enslaved Africans in Iran, Haji Mubarak and Fezzeh Khanum’ in UCLA Historical Journal 26, no. 1 (Citation2016); ‘Recovering the Biographies of Enslaved Africans in Nineteenth-Century Iran’ in Changing Horizons of African History, ed. Awet T. Weldemichael, Anthony A. Lee, and Edward A. Alpers (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, Citation2017); ‘Africans in the Palace: The Testimony of Taj al-Sultana Qajar from the Royal Harem in Iran’ in Islamic Slavery, ed. Mary Ann Faye (New York: Palgrave McMillan, Citation2018); Anthony A. Lee, The Baha’i Faith in Africa: Establishing a New Religious Movement, 1952–1962 (Leiden: Brill, Citation2011), Chapter Two. For the Safavid period, see also Sussan Babaie, Kathryn Babayan, et al., Slaves of the Shah: New Elites of Safavid Iran (London: I.B. Tauris, Citation2004).
2 A few recent works on the Indian Ocean slave trade are Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya and Richard Pankhurst, eds., The African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, Citation2003); Edward A. Alpers, East Africa and the Indian Ocean (Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2009); Robert Harms, Bernard K. Freamon, and David W. Blight, eds., Indian Ocean Slavery in the Age of Abolition (New Haven: Yale University Press, Citation2013); Richard Allen, European Slave Trading in the Indian Ocean, 1500–1850 (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2014); Matthew S. Hopper, Slaves of One Master: Globalization and Slavery in Arabia in the Age of Empire (New Haven & London: Yale University Press, Citation2015); and Henri Médard, Marie-Laure Derat, Thomas Vernet, and Marie Pierre Ballarin (eds), Traites et Esclavages en Afrique Orientale et dans l’océan Indien (Paris: Karthala, Citation2013).
3 The categories nawkar (male servant), khidmatkar (female servant), kaniz-i siyah (female black slave/servant), and khwajih and ghulam-i siyah (male black slave/servant) were clearly separate from each other. There were 3,770 enslaved Africans counted in Tehran out of a total population of 147,256, i.e., about 2.6 percent of the city's population. The results of the 1868 census are available on the web in Persian at: http://www.qajarwomen.org/en/items/1018A2.html. Of course, the accuracy and the reliability of the census can be debated. By 1868, there may have been some pressure to minimize the number of enslaved Africans in the city. So I remain suspicious that African slaves may have been undercounted. For example, the census does not include the by then hundreds of African slaves living in the harem of the shah’s palace.
4 For a brief discussion of domestic slavery in Iran, see Abbas Amanat. Iran: A Modern History (New Haven: Yale University Press, Citation2017), 27-28. It is probable that cities in the southern part of Iran, such as Shiraz or Bandar Abbas, would have had an even higher percentage of African slaves during this period, being closer to the ports of import.
5 The only written record that I have been able to find that mentions her is on the manuscript family tree created in Germany by a descendant, Nasser Torkzadeh, discussed below.
6 Interviews with Jalil Taqizadeh, in person, Los Angeles, April 7, 2017, and by phone from Los Angeles, November 14, 2017 and January 9, 2018; Interview with Monir Ardekani, by phone from Vancouver, September 29, 2017; Interview with Shahnaz Khorasani, by phone from Peekskill, NY, October 19, 2017, and in person in Peekskill, NY, November 18, 2017. Interview with Farzin Manshadi by phone from Los Angeles, January 14, 2019. (All of the interviews conducted by me were in English. Dr. Mehrdad Amanat has conducted interviews in Persian with some of the same informants, but I have not used his interviews for this article.) Nasser Torkzadeh to the author, December 18, 2018, by e-mail, in German.
7 Interview with Monir Ardekani, September 29, 2017.
8 This would make a difference since, as commodities, slaves were classified by country of origin. Lady Mary Sheil, a nineteenth-century traveler to Iran, noted that African slaves were divided into three types: ‘Bambassees, Nubees, and Habeshees. The former come from Zanzibar, and the neighboring country in the interior but I don’t know the etymology of the name [certainly from ‘Mombasa’]. The others as their names imply are natives of Nubia [Sudan] and Abyssinia [Ethiopia].’ Lady Mary Elenor Sheil, Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia (London: John Murray, Citation1856) 243–45. The habashis were regarded as the most beautiful, intelligent, and expensive slaves, followed by bambasis, and then nubis and zanjis (from Zanzibar). None of these terms are ethnic designations, however, but refer only to the ports from which these enslaved Africans embarked in the slave trade. Since her descendants indicate she embarked from Mombasa or Zanzibar, or that she came from Central Africa, at least we know that Ziba Khanum was not an Ethiopian.
9 Nasser Torkzadeh to the author, December 18, 2018. Probably meaning sold again at Bandar Abbas. Dr. Torkzadeh learned this information from his mother, who was the granddaughter of Ziba Khanum.
10 See also, Terry Alford, Prince Among Slaves (Oxford University Press, 2007), a biography of a Senegalese Muslim Prince who found himself enslaved in Louisiana in the nineteenth century.
11 Nasser Torkzadeh to the author, December 18, 2018.
12 Interview with Jalil Taqizadeh, April 7, 2017; interview, Shahnaz Khorasani, November 18, 2017.
13 ‘Umm al-Walad: Mother of the son. Refers to a slave woman impregnated by her owner, thereby bearing a child. In the opinion of many classical jurists, such a slave woman cannot be sold … . Children, male or female, born of this union are legally free and enjoy all rights of legitimate parentage, including inheritance and use of the father’s name.’ (‘Umm al-Walad,’ The Oxford Dictionary of Islam online). The application of this law in Shi’i Islam is the same as in Sunni Islam, though some Shi’i jurists hold that the freedom of the mother is not unconditional. (Hamid Algar, ‘Barda and Barda-Dāri, vi: Regulations Governing Slavery in Islamic Jurisprudence,’ Encylopaedia Iranica, online edition, available at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/barda-vi (accessed on 15 June 2020).
14 There is a considerable body of academic literature on the Baha’i religion and its history, especially in the United States and in Iran. See, for example, the twenty-five volumes of the Studies in the Babi and Baha’i Religions series, Anthony A. Lee, General Editor (Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, Citation1982). See also, Peter Smith, The Babi and Baha’i Religions: From Messianic Shi’ism to a World Religion (Cambridge University Press, Citation1987); Margit Warburg, Citizens of the World: A History and Sociology of the Baha’is from a Globalization Perspective (Leiden: Brill, Citation2006); Juan R. I. Cole, Modernity and the Millennium: The Genesis of the Baha’i Faith in the Nineteenth-century Middle East (New York: Columbia University Press, Citation1998); William Garlington, The Baha’i Faith in America (Westport, CT: Praeger, Citation2005); Dominic Parviz Brookshaw and Seena B. Fazel, eds., The Baha’is of Iran: Socio-historical Studies (London: Routledge, Citation2008); Moojan Momen, The Baha’i Communities of Iran 1851–1921 (Oxford: George Ronald, Citation2015), Abbas Amanat, Iran: A Modern History. passim. For a full discussion of the emergence of an academic literature of Babi and Baha’i Studies, see Lee, The Baha’i Faith in Africa, Chapter One.
15 The Mehr Traditional Hotel, Yazd. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g303962-d3731471-Reviews-Mehr_Traditional_Hotel-Yazd_Yazd_Province.html.
16 Interview, Monir Ardekani, September 29, 2017.
17 Interview, Monir Ardekani, September 29, 2017; interview, Shahnaz Khorasani, November 18, 2017.
18 His conversion by Alaqiband is mentioned in an editor’s footnote in Amr-i Baha’i dar Ardakan by Sadri Navvabzadeh Ardakani, ed. by Vahid Rafati (Hofheim, Germany: Baha’i Verlag, 2009), 42.
19 According to one informant, Ziba Khanum had been given this garment as a dowry at the time of her ‘marriage’ to her master. Interview, Shahnaz Khorasani, November 18, 2017.
20 Interview, Shahnaz Khurasani, October 29, 2017. Other informants mention a gift of 700 tumans without mentioning the skirt.
21 Perhaps, as much as $3,500 at that time. The value of the Persian tuman, a gold coin, varied widely in the nineteenth century from city to city and from decade to decade. See Mirzai Citation2017, iv–v.
22 Similar cautions are made for the study of slavery in Africa and Asia. See Miller Citation2007, 25–29; Campbell Citation2004, viii–xviii; Miers Citation2003, 1–14.
23 For examples of the vulnerabilities of freedom in this context, see Lee, ‘Recovering the Biographies of Enslaved Africans in Nineteenth-Century Iran.’
24 See Haji Muhammad-Tahir Malmiri. Tarikh-i Shuhaday-i Yazd (History of the Martyrs of Yazd), (Le Caire, Citation1926), reprinted Karachi: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1978, for the history of the Baha’i pogroms of 1903. Also, Aqa Sayyid Abu’l-Qasim Bayda, Tarikh-i Bayda (Bayda’s Narrative), ed. Siyamak Zabihi Moghaddam (Hofheim, Germany: Baha’i Verlag, Citation2016).
25 Moojan Momen, ‘Iran: Province of Yazd,’ draft of article for The Baha’i Encyclopedia. 1994. https://bahai-library.com/momen_encyclopedia_yazd.
26 Cilardo, Agostino. ‘Inheritance ii: Islamic Period’ Encyclopedia Iranica, XIII/2; an updated version is available online at Z (accessed 15 June 2020).
27 Some say six months and some nine months. But there is agreement that he was not able to actually see Baha’u’llah because of the latter’s strict terms of imprisonment. In fact, in the late 1880s and early 1890s, when Ghulam-‘Ali would have arrived in Palestine, Baha’u’llah was not under strict confinement. More likely, Ghulam-‘Ali had arrived at Baha’i headquarters unannounced and without permission, which was strictly forbidden by the Prophet. He was received into the household, but he was not allowed to see Baha’u’llah until he left and was invited back. (See H. M. Balyuzi, Bahá’u’lláh: The King of Glory (Oxford:George Ronald, Citation1980: 362ff) on the conditions of Baha’u’llah’s confinement during this period. Nonetheless, upon arrival in the household, Ghulam-‘Ali gave his 700 tumans to ‘Abdu’l-Baha (1844–1921), the eldest son of Baha’u’llah, who was in charge of household affairs. This may have been intended as a contribution, since the 700 tumans were returned to him, only over his protests, when he left Baha’u’llah’s household. He finally agreed to accept 600 tumans back. After he left Palestine, he traveled first to Alexandria, Egypt. While there, within a day or two, he received a message that Baha’u’llah was able to receive visitors, and that he was invited back to the Holy Land. On the second visit, he met with Baha’u’llah. His descendants proudly insist, therefore, that he was able to achieve two pilgrimages during his lifetime.
28 This was considered a great honor among Baha’is, and a blessing, since all of the writings of Baha’u’llah were considered sacred scripture by the Baha’is (and still are).
29 The Tablet reads in full:
He is the Witness, the All-Informed. All created things bear witness to the revelation of the Creator of the heavens, and the concourse on high is stirred up by the sweetness of the celestial call, and yet the people, for the most part, perceive it not. Verily, the treasures they have laid up have drawn them far away from their ultimate goal, and vain imaginings have debarred them from turning towards God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. They cast behind their backs the Book of God, cleaving fast unto their idols and idle fancies.In truth, thy name was mentioned before this Wronged One. Thereupon, the Ocean of utterance surged, the Countenance of the Ancient of days turned towards thee and revealed for thee that which enraptureth hearts and souls. Grieve thou not over the changes and the chances of the world. In all thy affairs, put thy reliance in God, the Lord of the Promised Day.Say: Praise be unto Thee, O Lord of Names, and glory be to Thee, O Creator of Heavens. I beseech Thee by the lights of the Throne, and the mysteries of the Cause, to enable me to hold fast unto the cord of steadfastness in thy love, and to cleave to that which Thou hast commanded me in Thy Tablets. Thou beholdest, O my God, Thy servant detached from all except thee and earnestly seeking thy bounty and favor. Ordain then for him that which beseemeth the heaven of Thy grace and the ocean of Thy bounty. Powerful art Thou to do what pleaseth Thee. There is none other God but Thee, the Forgiving, the Gracious.
30 Certainly, the 40-camels tale should not be understood literally. No doubt, Ghulam-‘Ali did return to Yazd with camels. The number 40 probably simply indicates a large number. The date of his return is unclear.
31 The word kaniz (Persian) originally designated a female slave. After emancipation, however, the term continued to be used in Iran to refer to African women who were now legally free, but who continued to work in wealthy homes as full-time servants. In the interviews that I conducted, the term was used in this way, meaning servant or dependent, rather than slave. It is not clear when these three women entered the household of Ghulam-‘Ali or whether they were originally purchased as slaves or hired by him as free servants. One informant suggested that they may have belonged to Ghulam-‘Ali’s father or that they may have been purchased in Bandar Abbas. I have no information that indicates that they were bought or sold or that Ghulam-‘Ali had sexual relations with them—all of which would have indicated the relationship of slave to master. The three women continued to serve the family of Ghulam-‘Ali after his passing. Shireen Khanum was the head servant and is especially remembered by Ghulam-‘Ali’s descendants as a formidable matriarchal figure in the household. Ghulam-‘Ali built a separate house for her in her later years, where she lived apart from the family. He also gave her a regular living allowance, a sort of pension. After his death, the family continued to support her financially. (Interview, Shahnaz Khurasani, October 29, 2017; Interview, Jalil Taqizadeh, April 7, 2017; Interview, Farzin Manshadi, January 14, 2019.) By 1873 Baha’u’llah, the Baha’i Prophet, had forbidden his followers to buy or sell slaves. (The Kitáb-i-Aqdas: The Most Holy Book [Haifa:Bahá’í World Center, Citation1992], K72.) So it is unlikely that Ghulam-‘Ali would have purchased slaves so long after that.
32 (I am grateful to Sara Zavaree for bringing Polak’s assessment to my attention.) Such a judgment rests on the assumption that a racial classification of the Iranian population into contemporary Western categories is viable. That is, the authors assume that all Iranians of African descent should be marked by some racial category in their own country. They are not.
33 ‘Familien Tafel: Stammbaum des Dr. Nasser Torkzadeh,’ 1995. In private hands.
34 Nasser Torkzadeh to the author, December 18, 2018. Ziba Khanum was buried at Dehbala, near Yazd. (Ibid.)
35 Of course, I have not interviewed every descendant and distant relative of Ziba Khanum. So, I still hope that we do not yet know everything about her.