An
Explanation
of
MilitarySlavery 97
Besidesthe
strength
oftheIslamic
ties,
the
readiness
ofMus-
limsto
accept
newconvertstoIslam--evenslavesmcontributed
totheirenthusiasmfor Islam.Themanumittedslavebecamea
full-fledged
memberofthe
community.
AMuslimcouldnotbea
complete
stranger
tootherMuslims;evenifa
foreigner
ora
slave,heshareda
vital
bondwiththem.Othersocieties
generally
showedless
openness
tooutsidersand
greater
reluctanceto
allowthemtoholdsensitive
positions.
- TheShariCa
ruling
thatone-fifthofall
booty(ghanma)
be-
given
tothe
government
derivesfromthe
Qur’hn:
"When
you
havetaken
booty,
one-fifth
belongstoGod,the
Prophet,
hisnear
of
kin,
to
orphans,
the
poor,
and
wayfarers.
’’a
Whilethe
jurists
disagreed
aboutthedetailsofthis
arrangement,
a7
they
did
con-
curthatthisone-fifth
(Arabic:
khums; Persian:
penchik)
ofthe
bootybelonged
tothe
community
asawholeas
represented
by
its
government
and
personifiedby
itsruler.Thefifth
gen-
erallyincluded allforms of
wealth
acquiredby
force
ofwar,
both
property
(movable
and
not)
and
persons--namely,
slaves,
as
Untilnow,no
study
hasbeenmadeofthe
application
ofthe
khums
regulationthroughout
Islamicate
history;
butwhereverit
heldfirm,itcould
supply
therulerwith massivenumbersof
slaves.
9a
Extensive
conquests
could
provide
the Muslimruler
withthousands of
slaves;
insuch
instances,
itmade
nosensefor
themalltoservehim
personally
orworkinhishousehold.
They
couldbetterlaborinthefieldsorin
industry,
buttheruler
might
prefertousethemto
support
his
regime
by
enrolling
theminto
the
army
ortheadministration.Thekhums
rulingprobablymade
closesttheCrusaderscameto
militaryslavery.
TheCrusaders
hadanacute
shortage
of
militarymanpower(pp.
88-97);alltheMuslimarmies
theyfacedre-
liedon
military
slaves;
yet
despitetheneedandthe
availability
ofa
model,the
WesternChristians
appear
nevertohavetriedtoimitatetheMuslims.
TheEthiopiansperhapstriedmilitaryslaverytoo(seen. 12 to
chapter
1).
96.Qur’n,8:41.
97.Khadduri,
pp.
121-22.
98.IntheOttoman
case,
for
example,
thisfactoris
commonly
ascribedcon-
siderable
importance:Kldy-Nagy,pp.
164-65;S.Shaw,
History
of
theOttoman
Empireand
Modern
Turkey,
vol.1:
Empire
of
theGazis
(Cambridge,
1976),s.v.
pen-
ik
intheindex.
99.
az-Zabidi,p.
96.