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

Chapter Four

The Unfree

in

Muslim

Warfare,

2-205/624-820

A1-MuCtaim’s

nameis

universally

associatedwith

militaryslav-

ery;butwasheindeedthefirstMuslimruler
systematicallyto

employ

slavesas

soldiers?The

question

containstwo

parts:

(1)

didslaves
fight

fortheMuslimsbefore

al-MuCtaim’s

time?(2)if

so,were
any

ofthem

military

slaves?This

chapteranswersthe

first
question;chapter

5,thesecond.

The

recordofslaves

fighting

fortheMuslimsinthefirsttwo

centuriescontainssome
surprises,

for

theyhada

significant

mil-

itaryrolefromthetimeof
Muh.ammad’s

firstbattlewhichcon-

tinued
through

to

al-Mutaim’s

reign. (His ascension tothe

thronein218/833
isassumedasanenddateforthe
develop-

mentofa
military

slave

system,

forreasons

explained

intheIn-

troduction.)

The

frequency

and

importance

of

slavesinwarfare

inthis
period

exceed

previous

notions.This

chapterpresents,

with
only,a

few

comments,

the

historicalrecord,

gathering

in-

formationaboutthe
many

casesof

slavesinwarfare

directly

fromthe
primary

sources.

Before

launching

intotheroleofslaves

inearlyMuslimwar-

fare,

abrief

explanationofthemawlastatusandtheWord

unfree

inthe
chapterheading

is

necessary.

The

followingpages

describethe

military

activitiesnot

just

of

personscalled slavesbut alsothoseofmawlas. This
vexing

1.Thefullversionofthis

argument

willappearinmy"Mawlas:FreedSlaves

andConvertsinEarlyIslam."

107