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

100

TheIsamicateContext

warfare;

(3)

the

relianceonoutsidersto

staffadministrations

andarmies; (4)

the

development

of

an institution--military

slavery--tobring

inandcontrolsoldiers

fromtheoutside.

The

truly

unusualfeatureofmilitaryslavery

has

littletodo

withtheenslavement

ofsoldiers;itlies,rather,

inthefactthat

a

cultural

rationaleliesbehind

this

phenomenon.

Theexistenceof

militaryslavery

hasalmostnothing

todowith

materialcircum-

stances(geographic,

economic,

social,

political,

technical,

andso

on),

butfollowsfrom

theneedsinherent

inIslamicateciviliza-

tion.Incontrast

tootherformsofmilitary

recruitment--tribal

levies,mercenary

enrollment,

militia

conscription,

oruniversal

service--thisoneexisted

in

only

onecivilization

andoccurred

therealmostuniversally.

Tothebestofmyknowledge,

no

other

methodofmilitaryorganization

hascomparable

connections

to

asingle

civilization.

Hereinliesthe

purpose

ofthis

analysis:

toshow

thatIslam,a

religion,

mustbetakenintoaccount

when

assessingpublic

af-

fairsinpremodern

Islamdom.

Someissues, nodoubt,

canbe

fully

understoodwithout

referencetoIslam;itwould

befoolish

to

claimthat

nothingsignificant

took

place

inthisperiod

without

Islam

affecting

it.

Butitwouldalsobeunwisetoignore

Islam;

foralthough

itisa

religion,

ithasaffectedmany

nonreligious

aspects

oflife

among

Muslims,even

inareas--militaryorgani-

zationacasein

point--which

ostensibly

havenothing

todowith

it.Iftheconnection

drawnherebetweenmilitaryslavery

and

Islamisvalid,

thenmuchelseinthe

public

lifeofMuslimsoc-

curredwithin

anIslamicatematrix.

The reaction ofthe reader

to this assertion may

well be

influencedby

hisown

background.

Ofthe three

great

mono-

theistic

religions,

Christianity

differs

from

Judaism

andIslam

inthis

regard.

To

lookatIslamfrom

aChristian

point

ofview

can make itmore difficult

to understand

how Islam

perme-

atedthelives

ofitsadherents;whereasChristianity

isa

system

ofbelief,

Judaism

andIslamareall-inclusiveways

oflife.

Aboveall,the

Jew

fulfillshis

religiousobligations

by

main-

taining

anall-inclusivelaw,

boththebiblical

andthe

expanded

rabbinic

Halakha.

Although

Jesus

himself

seemsnottohave

re-

jected

thislaw,

SaintPauldid:"Ifrighteousness

comesbylaw,