ABSTRACT
Africans, or persons of Arab-African descent (excluding most Arabized North Africans) who lived in the central Islamic lands, have received attention in a wide variety of Arabic literature. On the whole, however, references to them have been appended to descriptions of events that do not focus on Africans as such. Although this wide range of writings is extremely useful for an understanding of the roles of African-Arabs, it is not always easy to recognize them by name, place of origin or group affiliation. The serious researcher who wishes to identify them is obliged to apply himself to the long and tedious task of reading many voluminous works which cover all the major Islamic disciplines. To my knowledge, no medieval author undertook an exhaustive study of any specific minority in Arab lands.
