128
Origins
mawlas
inKhurasanandTransoxiana,
H.
ayyfinan-Nabat.i
acted
asone
of
thepower-brokers
ofhistime;he
apparently
did
not
haveanArabian
patron
towhomheowed
service
anymore.
Mawlasalso
fought
the
pagans
inCentralAsiainlesserca-
pacities.Theyservedasarchers
inthe
capture
of
Satnarqand
in
93/712.1
a0
Mamlfzksandmawlasfought
withYazidb.al-Muhallab
against
Tabaristanin
98/717.
TM
Mawlas
complained
to
Caliph
CUmarII
(r.
99-101/717-720)
that
20,000
ofthemwere
fighting
without
pay
inKhurasanin
100/719;
a2
however
exaggerated,
this
figure
tellsus
something
oftheirnumbers.Amawlamilitary
commanderled
troops
againstSoghdia
for the
governor
of
Khurasan
and became
governor
ofKiss in
194/7227
aa
Two
years
lateramawlaleda
body(qawm)
ofmawlas
and
arfs
(cap-
tains)against
theTurks.
TM
Themawlasof
Samarqand
followed
theminthe
rearguard.
15
A
Khfiriji
mawla
participated
inthe
siege
of
Kamarja
in
110/728.
lz6
SlavesmadeacrucialcontributionattheBattleof
thePassin
112/730;theMuslims’
surprise
attheeffectiveness
oftheirslaves
inwarfare
(which
hasalready
been
noted),
17
clearlyimplies
that
slavesnormally
did
notfight.
Thesewere
ordinary
slaveswho,
unlike
many
ofthe
mawlas,only
wenttowarunder
exceptional
circumstances.AlsoattheBattleofthePass,otherslavesofthe
Muslimswereslainas
they
leftthebattlefield;presumablythey
too
participated
inthe
fighting?
as
Ghulams
fought
theTurkstwicein
119/737.
Inthefirsten-
counter,they
leftthe
Umayyadtnilitarycamp
withsaddles
and
stavesandbeatbacktheTurks,
forcing
themtoflee?
a9
Soon
130.T,2:1244.
131.
T,2:1318.
132.T,2:1353-54;TYac,2:302.
133.T,2:1447.
134.T,2:1478.
135.T,2:1485.
136.
T,2:1525.
- T,2:1543.Foratranslationanddiscussion,
see
p.
26.NotealsoT,
2:1536.
138.T,2:1537.
139.
T,2:1598.