AnExplanationof
MilitarySlavery
71
ethicaland
religiouswriters,suchas
Abfi’l-Laythas-Samarqandi
(d. 373/983) and
Abfi’l-H.
amid
al-Ghazfili (d.
505/1111)
dis-
cussedthe
problems
entailedin
dealingwithrulers.
34
Islamicate
writingswidelyreflectedthisattitudeto
government.
Further,
Muslim
subjectsandrulersalikeinternalizedthis
attitude,mak-
ing
itanormative
patternofbehavior;all
agreed
thatMuslim
subjectsshouldnotbecomeinvolvedin
publicaffairs?
5
Muslim
subjectsavoided armies
(less
so
navies)even more
than
governments and administrators.
Hearing repeatedly
about the
unity
of theumma
andthe sinfulness of
fighting
againstotherMuslims,
theystayed
out
when,
.as
was
usually
the
case,the
enemy
was
Muslim.
(Exceptions
herearethose
cases
whereMuslims
fought
to
savetheirown
lives.)
36
Asa
result,
al-
- Goitein,
pp.
205-06.
- An
intriguing
alternative
explanationforthealienationofMuslimsub-
jects
fromtheir
rulerscanbetracedbackto
argumentHodgson
makes
about
the
ecology
oftheMiddleEast
creating
aculturewhichhadfewtiestotheland:
Theunusualaccessto
interregional
tradein
themid-AridZone,combined
withits
aridityandits
openness
tooverland
conquestsandto
imperial
for-
mations,all
having
increasing
effectinthecourseof
themillennia,could
have
resulted,
overthe
whole
region
ratherthan
justlocally,
inan
unusual
degreeof
legitimation
ofcultureoriented
tothemarket,andthisis form
favouringcosmopolitanmobility
ratherthancivic
solidarity(2:73-74).
The
aridity
ofits
agricultural
lands,itscentrallocation
intheOikoumen,andits
accessibilityto
conquestby
landcombinedtomake
MiddleEastern
civilization
little
oriented
to
geographicalloyalties.Hence,MiddleEasternMuslimsnatu-
rally
directedtheir
loyaltymore
to
theumma.Thisthenbecame
part
ofthe
high
culturewhich
spread
withIslam.
Another
explanation
fortheuninvolvementofMuslim
subjectscomesfroma
differentMiddleEasterntradition.Autonomouscitieshadexistedsincethemost
ancient
times,beforebureaucraticempiresfunctioned.Citieswere
accustomed
to
pay
off
imperialforeignerswith
quitrents
inreturnforlocalfreedomofaction
inthehandsofthe
religious
and
commercialelites.Althoughthis
procedure
was
outdatedbyabout 600 B.C.E.,itremainedinforce
throughParthianandeven
Sasaniantimes;
perhaps
its
legacyextendedintotheIslamic
period
welland
expanded
fromthe
MiddleEasternbasetoallIslamdom.
- In389/999,for
example,thepopulaceofTransoxiana
"followedthead-
viceofitsteachersanddecidedthat
’whenthe
struggle
isforthe
goodsofthis
world’
Muslimsarenot
obliged
to
’lay
themselves
outtobemurdered’
(quoted
inW.
Barthold,TurkestanDowntothe
MongolInvasion,trans.V.
Minorsky
etal.,
3ded.
(London,1968),pp.267-68).This
implies
thatMuslim
populacesshould