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

102 TheIslamicateContext

Although

in

both

Judaism

and

Islamfaithisnot

ignored,

both

centeraroundacodeoflaw.The Muslimfulfillshis
religious

obligationsby maintaining

thelawsoftheShariCa. Not

only

doesitresembletheHalakhain
generalpurpose; many

ofits

specificpointsderive

from

Jewish

prototypes.

For

example,

Is-

lamic
requirements

for

slaughtering

animalsforfood

closely

parallel
Jewish

ones.Other

regulations

reflecttheir

Jewish

ori-

gins

by

being

theopposite;if

Jews

almostnever

speak

thename

oftheLord,Muslimsdosoincessantly.

The

importantpoint

is

clear:
Jews

andMuslims

inpremodern

timeslivedinsocieties

molded
bydivinelyinspiredregulations

ina

way

fardifferent

thandidChristians.

Manymodern persons, regardless

of

religion,

are

skeptical

aboutthenotionofIslamicate
patterns permeating

a

society;

traditional
Jews

andMuslimshavelittletrouble

understanding

and
accepting

thisfact.Thedubiousreader

mayinquire

ofhim-

selfifhedoesnotlook
upon

Islamintoomodernamanner.

Thisexcursusinto

comparativereligionsprompts

afinalre-

mark:fromabroader
perspective,

Islamextended

many

Jewish

patterns

andvalues.It tookthemto newgeographicalareas

(sub-SaharanAfrica,SoutheastAsia)andintonewareas

oflife

(warfare,politics)

whichthe

Jews,

becauseoftheirsmallerdis-

persal

andnumbers,

hardlyexplored.