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

TheUnfreeinMuslim
Warfare,

2-205/624-820 111

Percentage

Mawlasin Total

of

Mawlas

Battle Mawlas inBattle

Wal’to

Muh.

ammad 13 60 22

Wal’

toothers 45 126 36

Total 58 186 31

Roughly

one-thirdofallmawlasinthe

S.ah.aba

fought

withcer-

tainty;

how

many

morehavebeenomittedor

forgotten

wecan-

noteven
guess.

The

biographical

source

Usdal-Ghdbacontainsa

confession

of its

incompleteness: "many

ofthe

.Sah.aba

had

mawlasandnotallofthemknewthe
Prophet.

’’12

Beyond

raw

manpower,

the unfree

brought special

skills

which
significantly

aidedtheMuslims.APersianslave,Salmftn

al-Fftrisi, introduced the Iranian
practice

of

digging

a ditch

arounda
city,

andhis

innovation

is

credited

with

saving

Medina

froma

siegebyQuraysh.

13

The

Ethiopianspearsmen,

however,

hadthemost
militaryimportance,

asthecareerof

Wah.

shiillus-

trates.
Wah.

shi,ablack

Ethiopian,

was

expert

at

throwing

the

Ethiopian

spear,

aspear

unliketheArabian

variety,though

we

do

not

know

exactly

how.

TM

Hefirstenteredthechronicleswhen

his
Qurashi

master,

Jubayr

offeredtofreehiminreturnforkil-

ling

the

Prophet’s

uncle,

H.

amza,atthe

forthcoming

battleat

Uh.

ud?

s

(Another account

names as

targets

either

H.

amza,

Mu.hammad

himself, orcAli b. Abi

.Tlib.)

When

Wah.

shi

fought

at

U.hud,

hewasoneof

only

two

ghul(zms

onthe

Qurashi

UG, 1:206,217,218, 220;2:37-38,98-100, 102, 156-57, 160 (two),230,

245-47,273-74,275, 286, 289, 348,367;

3:10

(two),10-11,31-34,

90-91,

310-11;4:43,124, 139,151,

257,

341,402-03,424,

427-28;5:25,83-84,

123-24,126, 143,174,

318;TAS,1:128,2:1647,1649,2015, 2253

(implied).

12.UG,4:259.

13.

UG,2:331.

14.Black:T, 1944,1949;IA,2:364-65.KM,p.168,sayshewas

"one

of

the

BlacksofMecca."

Ethiopian:

T,1:1385;IH,2:61;

al-Wqidi,p.

287;AA,1:322,

328;

al-Balansi,p.

95.

Expert:

IH,2:61,71-72,

al-Waqidi,pp.

473,496.Unlike

Arabian

spear:

IH,2:92.

A1-Jfi.hi,

Fakhr,pp.200-01quotesapoemandcom-

mentsontheterrortheEthiopiansstrikeintheheartsoftheiropponents.

15.IH,2:61;T

1:1385.

16.

al-Wiqidf,p.285.