From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Saqaliba (Arabic: صقالبة, sg. Siqlabi) refers to the Slavs, particularly Slavic mercenaries and slaves in the medieval Arab world in North Africa, Sicily and al-Andalus. The Arabic term is a Byzantine loanword: saqlab, siklab, saqlabi etc. is a corruption of Greek Sklavinoi for "Slav".

The Arab chronicler Ibn al-Faqih wrote that there were two types of saqaliba: those with swarthy skin and dark hair that live by the sea and those with light skin that live farther inland. It was typical in the Arab world to have a somewhat vague notion of ethnic distinctions between Slavs.

There were several major routes of Slav (and slave) trade into the Muslim world: through Central Asia (Mongols, Tatars, Khazars, etc.), through the Mediterranean (Byzantium), through Central and Western Europe to Spain and further to North Africa (Morocco, Egypt). The Volga trade route and other European routes, according to Ibrahim ibn Jakub, were serviced by Radanites, Jewish merchants. Theophanes mentions that the Umayyad caliph Muawiyah I settled a whole army of 5,000 Slavic mercenaries in Syria in the 660s.

In the Muslim world, Saqaliba served in a multitude of ways: servants, eunuchs, craftsmen, soldiers, and even as caliph's guards. Many of them became prominent, and unlike millions of nameless slaves, their fate is generally known. In Iberia, Morocco, Damascus and Sicily their role may be compared with that of mamluks in the Ottoman Empire. Some Saqāliba even became rulers of taifas (principalities) in Iberia after the collapse of the Caliphate of Cordoba.

As mentioned above, Arabs had vague notions about ethnic differences beyond their immediate neighborhood, and it is quite possible that in some old texts "Saqaliba" may refer to other peoples of the Eastern Europe. In particular, Ibn Fadlan referred to the ruler of the Volga Bulgaria, Almış, as "King of the Saqaliba", although another likely reason for this is that there were many genuine Slavs living at that time in his domain, both slaves and ordinary settlers.

• Barry Hoberman, "Treasures of the North"
• Slavs in Muslim Spain