That infamous Islamic presence in the Indian Ocean, and especially on the East African coast, had an obvious importance in the development of slavery as an institution. However, as Cooper pointed out, it is important to keep in mind that there are no “Islamic societies” as a homogeneous group of communities governed by Sacred Law. Instead, in each location, “Islamic slavery” was shaped by local conditions and reshaped by economic and social changes.1 Islam was one of the “ideological frameworks” used on the African continent to justify the enslavement of other human beings. human beings.2 The main characteristic common to slavery in societies governed by Islamic law was the understanding of slavery as a condition for becoming part of the kinship group, assimilation within the "new" cultural context was inherent to the condition of a slave. The slave was a foreigner, in general an infidel, therefore slavery was the means to convert the foreigner to the Islamic religion, once converted he began a process of incorporation into Islamic society.3 This particular characteristic allowed slaves to reach important positions in the official bureaucracy and in the military apparatus. Women entered Muslim families, mostly as concubines or house slaves, those concubines who had children by their master freed themselves after the master's death, and their children inherited their father's status.4 The other commonly cited characteristic in this framework, it is the possibility of social mobility of the slaves, some of them reached important positions within the administrative and military apparatus, and became part of the upper strata of their societies.5 According to the 'religious framework' criticized by Lovejoy,.6 ..... . middle of paper ......economic changes in East Africa and the Middle East, but also to the British campaign to abolish the slave trade after 1807. The decline in demand for slaves in the Atlantic had a direct impact on 'rise of slaves as a labor force in Africa25 and the Indian Ocean.26 Economic change in the region has been noted in the Persian Gulf and the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba. Apparently, the Persian Gulf and the Middle East underwent a major productive transformation in the nineteenth century, resulting in the increased use of slave labor in occupations other than “traditional” roles in domestic and luxury positions.27 According to Clarence-Smith, in the 19th century, 300,000 slaves were exported from East Africa to the Middle East, 500,000 to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Ports located on the Persian Gulf were points for re-exporting slave laborers to other Muslims