How Hajj Routes Were Used in the Forgotten Red Sea Slave Trade

For centuries, the Hajj was more than a religious journey. The established routes to Mecca also became part of wider trans-Saharan, Red Sea and Indian Ocean networks that trafficked enslaved Africans and others into the Arabian Peninsula. Historical accounts describe pilgrims from West Africa arriving with enslaved people, while some travellers were deceived with promises of cheap transport, marriage or guardianship and later sold. Women and children were especially vulnerable. The Hejaz created demand for domestic labour, agricultural workers and concubines, while pilgrimage caravans and ships offered traffickers regular routes across Africa and Arabia. The traffic continued into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries despite efforts to curb it. Nigeria introduced passport and financial-deposit requirements for pilgrims in 1933, but weak enforcement and unregulated landing points made trafficking difficult to detect. Saudi Arabia and Yemen formally abolished slavery in 1962, though illegal trafficking did not end immediately. This history deserves careful discussion. Acknowledging slavery in Muslim-majority societies does not make Islam or Muslims uniquely responsible for slavery. It recognises that slavery existed across many civilisations and that the suffering of enslaved people should not be erased because it is politically uncomfortable.

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