The following quotes are from North African Arabs, long before European colonialism took place.

Ibn Khaldun. 1. "The only people who accept slavery are the Negroes, owing to their low degree of humanity and proximity to the animal stage. Other persons who accept the status of slave do so as a means of attaining high rank, or power, or wealth, as is the case with the Mameluke Turks in the East and with those Franks and Galicians who enter the service of the state in Spain." 2. "Beyond known peoples of black West Africa to the south there is no civilization in the proper sense. There are only humans who are closer to dumb animals than to rational beings. They live in thickets and caves, and eat herbs and unprepared grain. They frequently eat each other. They cannot be considered human beings." 3. "Therefore, the Negro nation are, as a rule, submissive to slavery, because [Negroes] have little [that is essentially] human and have attributes that are quite similar to those of dumb animals, as we have stated." ///---------------- Medieval Arab writer Al-Muqaddasi "As for the Zanj, they are people of black color, flat noses, kinky hair, and little understanding or intelligence." "We know that the Zanj (blacks) are the least intelligent and the least discerning of mankind, and the least capable of understanding the consequences of actions." -- Jahiz (d. 868 AD), Kitab al-Bukhala (The Book of Misers) "Like the crow among mankind are the Zanj for they are the worst of men and the most vicious of creatures in character and temperament." ///--------------Ibn Khaldun. On the bedouin Arabs Arabs dominate only of the plains, because they are, by their savage nature, people of pillage and corruption. They pillage everything that they can take without fighting or taking risks, then flee to their refuge in the wilderness, and do not stand and do battle unless in self-defense. So when they encounter any difficulty or obstacle, they leave it alone and look for easier prey. And tribes wellfortified against them on the slopes of the hills escape their corruption and destruction, because they prefer not to climb hills, nor expend effort, nor take risks. Whereas plains, when they can reach them due to lack of protection and weakness of the state, are spoils for them and morsels for them to eat, which they will keep despoiling and raiding and conquering with ease until their people are defeated, then imitate them with mutual conflict and political decline, until their civilization is destroyed. And Allah is capable of their creation, and He is the One, the Victorious, and there is no other lord than Him. 'een leger sprinkhanen die alles vernielen wat er op hun pad komt'.

nsgezindheid solidariteit, gemeenschapszin door hem `asibiyah genoemd, het sterkst is in tribale maatschappijen omdat deze gebaseerd zijn op bloed- en stamverwantschap en omdat, zonder solidariteit, overleving in een moeilijke omgeving onmogelijk is . Als deze solidariteit samen gaat met de andere sterkste gemeenschapsband, religie, dan tendeert de combinatie van beide, tot onoverwinnelijkheid. Temur-i-lang Ibn Khaldun hoopte en verwachtte dat de Turks-Mongoolse veroveraar Timur, die hij bij vredesonderhandelingen te Damascus in 1400 ontmoet had als afgevaardigde van Sultan al-Nasir (Caro), en van wie hij zeer onder de indruk was, in staat zou zijn de moslims te verenigen (`asabiyah sociale eenheid) en zodoende een renaissance van de Islam zou bewerkstelligen. Deze hoop moest hij uiteindelijk laten varen. On the Persians As Ibn Khaldun suggests, it is a remarkable fact that with few exceptions, most Muslim scholarsin the intellectual sciences have been non-Arabs: "Thus the founders of grammar were Sibawaih and after him, al-Farisi and Az-Zajjaj. All of them were of Persian descentthey invented rules of (Arabic) grammargreat jurists were Persians only the Persians engaged in the task of preserving knowledge and writing systematic scholarly works. Thus the truth of the statement of the prophet becomes apparent, 'If learning were suspended in the highest parts of heaven the Persians would attain it"The intellectual sciences were also the preserve of the Persians, left alone by the Arabs, who did not cultivate themas was the case with all craftsThis situation continued in the cities as long as the Persians and Persian countries, Iraq, Khorasan and Transoxiana (modern Central Asia), retained their sedentary culture. On the Qu'ran Arabic writing at the beginning of Islam was, therefore, not of the best quality nor of the greatest accuracy and excellence. It was not (even) of medium quality, because the Arabs possessed the savage desert attitude and were not familiar with crafts. One may compare what happened to the orthography of the Quran on account of this situation. The men around Muhammad wrote the Quran in their own script which, was not of a firmly established, good quality. Most of the letters were in contradiction to the orthography required by persons versed in the craft of writing.... Consequently, (the Quranic orthography of the men around Muhammad was followed and became established, and the scholars acquainted with it have called attention to passages where (this is noticeable). No attention should be paid in this connection with those incompetent (scholars) that (the men around Muhammad) knew well the art of writing and that the alleged discrepancies between their writing and the principles of orthography are not discrepancies, as has been alleged, but have a reason. For instance, they explain the addition of the alif in la adhbahannahU "I shall indeed slaughter him" as indication that the slaughtering did not take place ( lA adhbahannahU ). The addition of the ya in bi-ayydin "with hands (power)," they explain as an indication that the divine power is perfect. There are similar things based on nothing but purely arbitrary assumptions. The only reason that caused them to (assume such things) is their belief that (their explanations) would free the men around Muhammad from the suspicion of deficiency, in the sense that they were not able to write well. They think that good writing is perfection. Thus, they do not admit the fact that the men around Muhammad were deficient in writing.

On Religious propaganda Religious propaganda gives a dynasty at its beginning another power in addition to that of the group feeling it possessed as the result of the number of its supporters... This happened to the Arabs at the beginning of Islam during the Muslim conquests. The armies of the Muslims at alQadisiyah and at the Yarmuk numbered some 30,000 in each case, while the Persian troops at alQadisiyah numbered 120,000, and the troops of Heraclius, according to al-Waqidi, 400,000. Neither of the two parties was able to withstand the Arabs, who routed them and seized what they possessed. On The Black Plague Civilization both in the East and the West was visited by a destructive plague which devastated nations and caused populations to vanish. It swallowed up many of the good things of civilization and wiped them out. It overtook the dynasties at the time of their senility, when they had reached the limit of their duration. It lessened their power and curtailed their influence. It weakened their authority. Their situation approached the point of annihilation and dissolution. Civilization decreased with the decrease of mankind. Cities and buildings were laid waste, roads and way signs were obliterated, settlements and mansions became empty, dynasties and tribes grew weak. The entire inhabited world changed. The East, it seems, was similarly visited, though in accordance with and in proportion to [the East's more affluent] civilization. It was as if the voice of existence in the world had called out for oblivion and restriction, and the world responded to its call. God inherits the earth and whomever is upon it. On economics In the early stages of the state, taxes are light in their incidence, but fetch in a large revenue...As time passes and kings succeed each other, they lose their tribal habits in favor of more civilized ones. Their needs and exigencies grow...owing to the luxury in which they have been brought up. Hence they impose fresh taxes on their subjects...[and] sharply raise the rate of old taxes to increase their yield...But the effects on business of this rise in taxation make themselves felt. For business men are soon discouraged by the comparison of their profits with the burden of their taxes...Consequently production falls off, and with it the yield of taxation. This sociological theory includes the concept known in economics as the Khaldun-Laffer Curve (the relationship between tax rates and tax revenue follows an inverted U shape).