afghan sultanates, 1260–1732populations, usually non-Muslim tribes, forced to make a token conversion
to Islam and formed the royal guard of the ruling monarch, or sultan. The
ghulams thus provided a ruler with a corps of loyal troops that were bound
to him by oath and patronage and that offset the power of the sultan’s tribe
and other powerful factions at court.
The ghulams were generally better trained and armed than any other
military force in the kingdom and were the nearest thing to a professional
army. Their commanders enjoyed a privileged status, often held high office
and owned large estates. In a number of Muslim countries ghulams even-
tually became so powerful that they acted as kingmakers and on occasion
deposed their master and set up their own dynasty. The Ghaznavids were
a case in point. Sabuktigin (942–997), a Turk from Barskon in what is now
Kyrgyzstan, who founded this dynasty, was a ghulam general who was sent
to govern Ghazni by the Persian Samanid ruler of Bukhara, only for him
to eventually break away and set up his own kingdom. 6
The minaret of the
Ghaznavid Sultan
Bahram Shah (1084–
1157), one of two
surviving medieval
minarets outside
Ghazni.