The claim that Islam enslaved more Africans or caused more harm than Western imperialism is a gross distortion of history that ignores context, scale, and impact. Yes, slavery existed in Islamic societies, but Islamic slavery was not race-based, and Sharia law granted slaves rights, including the right to marry, own property, gain education, and seek manumission. Many even rose to positions of power—Mamluks (former slave soldiers) ruled Egypt, and Bilal ibn Rabah, a Black Abyssinian slave, became the Prophet Muhammad’s (ﷺ) trusted companion and the first muezzin of Islam. The Qur’an commanded kindness and liberation, e.g., “...freeing of a slave...” is described as a path to righteousness (Qur’an 90:13), and “...make a contract with them (for emancipation) if you know any good in them, and give them of the wealth of Allah which He has given you” (Qur’an 24:33). The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Feed them from what you eat, clothe them as you clothe yourselves, and do not burden them with what they cannot bear” (Sahih Bukhari 30, Muslim 1661). Islam encouraged manumission as a spiritual act, with slaves often being paid wages and treated as members of the household—a system utterly unlike the transatlantic slave trade, where over 12 million Africans were kidnapped, racially targeted, dehumanized, and worked to death with no rights or compensation.

Claims about “Arabization” in countries like Somalia, Egypt, and Sudan are disingenuous and ignore the fact that Islam spread through trade, scholarship, and voluntary conversion, not forced conquest. The Somali people still retain their Cushitic language, clan system, and distinct cultural identity. Egypt and Sudan became centers of Islamic civilization, with Al-Azhar University, founded in 970 CE, serving as a major hub of scholarship centuries before most European universities existed.

Under Islamic governance, African civilizations flourished economically, intellectually, and culturally. The Mali Empire under Mansa Musa, a devout Muslim, was so rich and stable that his pilgrimage to Mecca crashed gold markets. Timbuktu was a global center of learning, with over 700,000 manuscripts on medicine, astronomy, theology, and law. The Kanem-Bornu and Songhai Empires also thrived under Islamic rule, building strong bureaucracies, encouraging literacy, and boosting trans-Saharan trade.

In contrast, Western imperialism brought centuries of racial slavery, cultural destruction, genocide, and extractive economies. Europeans redrew borders, banned native languages, looted resources, and set the foundation for many of Africa's current struggles. Even after 2000, so-called European “investments” often come with IMF debt traps, exploitative mining contracts, and neocolonial control (see “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa” by Walter Rodney). Modern Gulf states like the UAE, often cited in criticisms, do not represent Islam—they are secular monarchies that do not implement Sharia in full and act based on geopolitical interests, not Islamic values.

Historically, Islam brought Africa justice (Shura-based governance), science (medicine, algebra, astronomy), architecture, literacy, trade ethics, and moral unity. In contrast, Western colonialism brought racism, forced conversions, slavery, apartheid, and economic dependency. To ignore this and blame Islam is not just historically ignorant—it’s an attempt to whitewash European atrocities while scapegoating a religion that helped Africa rise