The Suavs of Abu Hamid al-Gharnati

Abu Hamid al-Gharnati (or Abu Hamid al-Andalusi al-Gharnati or Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Sulayman ibn Rabi al-Māzinī al-Qaysi) (circa 1080 – 1170) wrote a number of works, one of which – “Praise of Some of the Wonders of North Africa” (al–Mu’rib ‘an ba’d ‘aja’ib al-Maghreb) contains some information about Suavs. The following comes from the C.E. Dubler edition via Urszula Lewicka-Rajewska and Barbara Ostafin):

“The Suavs govern themselves in accordance with severe customs. If one of them dares to touch a female slave of another or the other’s son or horse or if he in any manner breaks the law, then all his possessions are taken away. If he does not have any, then they sell his sons, daughters and his wife to pay for his transgression. If the lawbreaker does not have a family or children, then he himself is sold and remains a slave serving his master till death or till such time as when he has returned that which he owes. And his slave services to his master do not count towards what he needs to return to free himself. Their land [of the Suavs] is peaceful. Should a Muslim do business with a Suav and should this counterpart of the Muslim trader go bankrupt then he, his children and his house are sold so that the debt to the trader is paid off.”