Abeed

Abeed or abīd ( , plural of ʿabd, ) is an Arabic word meaning "servant" or "slave". Historically, ʿabīd was used in a variety of social, legal and military contexts and did not necessarily indicate ethnicity or skin colour. Medieval sources applied the term to slaves of different origins, including Slavs and Turks. The term and related forms were also used outside Arabic. In Ottoman Turkish, for example, abd and abd-i memlûk were among the terms used for male slaves. In a number of Arabic dialects, ʿabd and ʿabīd later developed racialized usages referring to Black Africans or communities associated with African slave ancestry; in some contexts the term is derogatory.

Abeed or abīd ( , plural of ʿabd, ) is an Arabic word meaning "servant" or "slave". Historically, ʿabīd was used in a variety of social, legal and military contexts and did not necessarily indicate ethnicity or skin colour. Medieval sources applied the term to slaves of different origins, including Slavs and Turks. The term and related forms were also used outside Arabic. In Ottoman Turkish, for example, abd and abd-i memlûk were among the terms used for male slaves. In a number of Arabic dialects, ʿabd and ʿabīd later developed racialized usages referring to Black Africans or communities associated with African slave ancestry; in some contexts the term is derogatory. ==Usage== The usage of ʿabd and its plural forms has varied by period, region and context. In Classical and Modern Arabic, ʿabd can mean "slave" or "servant", while Arabic lexicography also records the broader sense of a human being or person; several plural forms exist, including ʿabīd and ʿibād. A later tendency distinguished ʿabīd for slaves held by people from ʿibād for servants or worshippers of God, although the distinction was never absolute; ʿabīd itself is also used in the Quran for the servants of God. Historically, ʿabīd was not necessarily a racial designation; Michael Brett notes its use for slaves of different origins, including Slavs as well as Black Africans. ===Ottoman period=== In late Ottoman Palestine, ʿabd (plural ʿabīd) developed a racialized local usage. Sarah and Johann Büssow write that in local Arabic usage the term came to mean specifically a Black slave and could also be used collectively for communities of trans-Saharan African origin. They also document an ʿAbid community in Jaffa which continued to function as a distinct social community after the decline of formal slavery. During the British Mandate, British authorities officially regarded slavery as no longer existing in Palestine proper, although forms of dependency connected with former slavery persisted. Legal historian Assaf Likhovski notes that some ʿabid communities in the Jordan Valley consisted of descendants of former Black slaves who were legally free but in some cases remained economically and socially dependent on their former Bedouin masters. ==See also== List of ethnic slurs Indian Ocean slave trade Red Sea slave trade Trans-Saharan slave trade Abd (Arabic)

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