90
TheIslamicateContext
instances.
The
adoption
of a master’s nisba (kinship name)
reflectedtheneedforanew,
albeit
spurious
filiation.
77
Themaster
alsoisolatedhisslaves.Hetookthemfromtheir
homelands
toa
strangecountry
andcutthemofffrom
therest
ofthe
society.
Theyhadnochoice
butto
accept
theties
provided
themandtobecomeloyal
tohim.
Theydeveloped
closerelations
withtheir
comrades,allofwhomsharedthesame
predicament.
Geographic
isolationalsoreducedthepossibility
thata
marginal
areasoldierwouldeverhaveto
fight
hisown
peoplebytaking
himfar
away
fromthem.Combatagainst
conationalsstrained
theloyalty
evenofa
military
slave,
thoughmany
examples
of
their
loyalty
totheirmastersinsuchsituations
canbefound.
8
Militaryslavery
madeindoctrinationpossible.
Whereasmer-
cenariesandalliesarrivedfullydeveloped
andresisted
changes
in
their
personalities
and
loyalties,military
slavescameas
chil-
dren,
unformed and
susceptible
to reorientation.
Years of
creful
schooling
imbuedthemwith
lifelong
attachmentsto
the
Islamic
religion,
theirmaster,his
dynasty,
andtheir
comrades-
in-arms.Themasterexertedcontinuous
pressure
on
theslave
recruitsto
relinquish
their
priorallegiances
in favorofhim-
self.Enslavementmadepossible
theextended
period
of
gesta-
tionwhichchanged
identities.IbnKhaldfin
explains:
"Whena
people
with
groupfeeling
traina
people
ofanotherdescentor
enslaveslavesandmawlas,
they
enterintoclosecontactwith
them
Thesemawlasandtrained
persons
share
in
[their
patrons’]groupfeeling
andtakeitonas
ifitweretheirown.
9
Mercenariesandallies
invariably
hadconcerns
outsideoftheir
military
service.
They
had
family,
kinsmen,herds,farms,and
so
forth,towhich
they
devotedattentionandfromwhichthey
were
loathtobe
long
separated.
Theseinterests
required
timeand
conflictedwiththeir
servicetotheruler.Slaves,onthe
contrary,
couldbemadeto
liveinisolationfromtherestof
society.
Not
- Forand,"Relation,"
pp.
62-63;D.
Ayalon,
"Names,Titlesand’Nisbas’of
theMamluks,"Israel
OrientalStudies 5 (1975):213-19;Lvi-Provenal,
p.
106
10.
78.CHI,4:162;P.Wittek,
"TfirkentumundIslam,I,"
Archivfiir
Sozialwis-
senschaft
und
Sozialpolitik
59 (1928):517;andseethemanyexamples
in
chapter
6.
79.
Muq,
1:276
(my
translationfromtheArabic,1:245).