Slave Soldiers and Islam_ The Genesis of a Military System - Daniel Pipes

An
Explanation

ofMilitarySlavery 77

lished

orderbecause

theyprosper

init."Outsiders,

’’5

by

con-

trast,

areadiverselot,either

foreigners

oroutcast

indigenous

groups

suchasminorities

(personsdiffering

in

language,

reli-

gion,

color,orsomeother

significant

trait),theindigent,slaves,

andanyotherdisadvantagedgroup.

51

Theoutsiderswhofilled

emptyspaces

inMuslimarmiescame

overwhelmingly

from

marginal

areas.Theyenjoyed

vitalmili-

tary

and

political advantages

oversoldiers

from

government

areas,eventhoughthey

were

culturally

less

sophisticated.

Ibn

Khaldfin

52

expresses

thiscontrast

symbolically:

"Sieveswereal-

together

non-existent

among(the

Arabs)andtheyatewheat

(kernels)withthebran.

Yetthe

[military]gainsthey

madewere

greater

than

any

otherevermadeby

human

beings.

’’

Several

elementscontributed

to therecurrent

militarysuperiority

of

marginal

areasoldiers:the

hardships

oftheir

way

oflife,their

healthiness,andtheirsocial
organization;

thefactthatno

gov-

ernment

controlledthemwasof

keyimportance.

Whetheroutsiderslivedinthe

steppes,

deserts,ormountains,

merelystaying

alivewasa

steadychallenge.Agriculture

waser-

ratic

andanimalslivedina

fragile

climaticbalanceasthe

vaga-

riesofweather

hit

with

particularseverity.

Lifewashard:

each

50. IbnKhaldfinusesthe

term

khgtrijiya

to

express"outsider"

(Muq

1:279

n.84,376).

51.Apersoncomingfromamarginalareaisautomatically

an

outsider,

foran

insidermust

participate

inconstituted

society

andthereforeliveina

government

area.

Ontheotherhand,anoutsider

may

comefromeithera

marginal

or a

gov-

ernmentareasolongasheisfromoutside

a

givensociety.

Area

Person

Marginal

Government

Outsider

x

Insider x

52. IbnKhaldfin’swritingsaccord

sowellwiththe

followingargument

that

shallcombine

quotes

from

al-Muqaddima

andal-elbar

with

myviews.Inthepro-

cess, shalladmittedlybetakinghisstatements

outof

context,

forIbnKhaldfin

stresses

groups

whereas amlooking

atindividuals.

Still,

heoftencommentson

the

qualities

ofindividuals,too,

anditisthese shall

quote.

53.

Muq,

1:419.