Qaliba

Qaliba is an Arabic term found in medieval Islamic sources that refers to a slave, typically a female slave or slave concubine. The word appears in various genres of Islamic literature, including chronicles, poetry, and travel writing, and was used across broad geographic areas within the Islamic world.

In practice, qaliba were enslaved people acquired through conquest, raid, or long-distance trade. They were employed in households, palaces, and urban communities, performing roles such as domestic servants, attendants, tutors, and entertainers, and in some cases serving in more intimate or influential positions within a household or court. The term does not denote a formal social class on its own, but it describes a status within the broader system of slavery that persisted in several Islamic societies.

Geographically, qaliba were documented in North Africa, the Maghreb, Al-Andalus (Muslim-ruled Iberia), the Levant, and later Ottoman domains. The phenomenon is also linked to larger slave-trade networks, including the trans-Saharan and Indian Ocean trades, which supplied enslaved people of various origins, including sub-Saharan Africans, to Muslim communities.

Modern scholarship treats qaliba as a label used in historical texts to describe enslaved individuals rather than a distinct institutional category. Studies emphasize the diversity of experiences among qaliba, reflecting regional practices, legal contexts, and the evolving dynamics of slavery in Islamic societies. The term gradually receded from common usage with the abolition movements and reforms of the modern era.