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

AnExplanationof

MilitarySlavery

99

As aresult,slaves

attaineddiverse

positions

which

elsewhere

wouldhave

gone

to

personswithdifferentstatuses.

Also,the

disjointed

natureof

Islamicate

society

anditsweakinstitutional

ties

meantthat

only

abondas

strongasslaveryinsureddurable

relations.Ties

withfreemen,be

theyrelatives,kinsmen,mer-

cenaries,allies,

religiousbrethren,ornotables, often

did not

hold.

11.

Astrict

separation

ofthesexes

mayalsohavefavoredthe

useof

military

slaves.Theexclusionof

womenfrom

public

life

andthe

stringentsexualcodebetweenmenand

womenencour-

aged

widespreadhomosexuality

among

menandmadeit

gen-

erally

accepted

in Islamicate

society. Inthiscontext,

military

slaverybenefitedtheleaders

bysupplyingthemwitha

pool

of

subservientmenavailable

forsexualrelations.Better

yet,the

young

recruitsofferedachoice

of"beardlessones."Two

prac-

tices

reflectedthishomosexual

element: thefactthateunuchs

trainedtherecruits

1

andthemeteoriccareersof

maleslaves

--often

militaryslaves--towhomtherulerora

highofficial

tooka

liking?

a

Presumablysexualbonds,not

justgoodlooks,

accountedforthis

favor.

Conclusion

Thischapterhas

suggestedwhymilitaryslaveryexistedand

why

itexisted

only

in

Islamdom.It

provided

amosteffective

way

for

governments

to

acquire

and

control

marginal

areasoldiers;and

Muslimrulers

developed

itbecausetheirown

subjects

withdrew

from

publiclifeandwouldnot

fight

forthem.

Severaldistinctive

Islamicateelementshave

emerged

here:

(1)

theextentandseriousnessofthe

gapbetweenidealsand

reality

inpubliclife;(2)thewithdrawalofinsiders

from

politics

and

102.Ayalon,

L’Esclavage,pp.

14-15;

idem,"Eunuchs,"

p.

268.

103.

Ayfiz,theslaveandfavoriteof

Mah.

mfidof

Ghazna,was

probably

the

mostrenownedcatamite

inIslamicate

history(P.Hardy,"Ayiz,"inEI2);also

Simfi

ad-Dimashqi,

al-MuCtim’s

favorite

(Aghfini"18:93);

and

al-Khlidiyayni,

p.49;Mez,
p.

358.Evena

eunuchgainedfameasasultan’s

lover!(S.

Digby,

"Kffir,Mfilik,"inEI2).