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

Thesecondhalfofthis
study

leavestheIslamicateleveltocon-

centrateonthefirst
appearance

of

militaryslavery.Besidesits

evident
importance

forthe

history

oftheinstitutionof

military

slavery,

this

topic

sheds

light

onthe

early

Islamic

period

and

provides

a means

by

which to test

hypotheses presented

in

part

I.

Aboveall,two

questions

mustbeanswered:whendid

military

slavery

firstoccur

(chapters

4 and

5)

andhowdid it

develop

(chapter6)?The
primary

sourcesbearreluctantwitnesstothe

origin

ofthis

institution;informationmustbe

squeezed

fromin-

directandlittle-considered
writings.Althoughno
single

indica-

tion
conclusively

answerseitherofthese

questions,

several

in

combinationadd
up

to

aforceful

argument.

Origins

has two

possible meanings

in a historical

study,

"genealogy"(tracing

a

thing’sancestry)

or

"breedingground"

(analyzing

theenvironmentinwhichit

grew).*

Inthis

study,

it has the latter
meaning; pre-Islamic practices

in Rome-

Byzantium,Iran,

and

Arabiaareoflessconcernthanthecir-

cumstancesunderwhich
militaryslaverydeveloped.

*M.Bloch,TheHistorian’s

Craft,

trans.P.Putnam(NewYork,

1953),pp.

29-35.

105