138
Origins
withthe
figure
ofhalfamillionabove,Ilittle
understandthis
huge
number.
Bothal-Aminand
al-Ma’mSn
employed
mawlasduring
the
civilwarbetweenthem.When
oneofal-Amin’sgenerals
found
himselfina
desperate
situation
in196/812,hesuggested
thathis
mawlasleave
him,but
they
refusedindignantly,averring
their
eternalgratitude
tohimfor
raising
themoutof
poverty.
Con-
sequentlythey
diedby
hissideinbattle.
ln
Ontheotherside,
the
great
mawla
general,
Harthamab.
ACyan,fought
for
al-Ma’mn
thatsame
year.
zz7
The Abbasidssentseveral
unfreecommanders
against
the
rebel
Ab5’s-Sary.
A
kh{zdimled
200
horsemenonthepilgrim-
age
toMeccain
199/815
andfoughtAb’s-Sary’s
forces
with
them;
theAbbasid
governor
ofMecca
collected forwarthe
mawlas
ofBarn5cAbbsandtheslaves
oftheirhouses
(?);
inthe
followingyear,
theAbbasids’
agent
inMecca,amawla,collected
the slavesofthe
AbbasidsinMecca,led themagainst
Ab’s-
Sary,
and
won.
1
Therearealsofurther
incidentalreferences
tomawlasfightingAbfi’s-Sary.
a9
When
al-Ma’mSnwas
looking
forseveral
soldiersoflowrank
to
arrange
theassassination
ofhisvizier
al-Fatl
b.Sahl
in203/
819,he
choseaBlack,aGreek,a
Daylami,
andaS.aqlabi(Slav);
according
toBalami,theGreek
andthe
S.
aqlabi
weremawlas.
9
WiththeAbbasids
against
Non-Muslims,
132-205/750-820. Unfree
soldiershardlyfoughtany
non-Muslimsduring
thefirst
sixty
years
ofthe
Abbasid
caliphate.Except
foronecampaignagainst
anapostate
inKhurasanin141/758,
TM
theyfought
onlyagainst
the
Byzantines,
the
first time in 140/757,
over
Malatya.
z2z
A1-H.
asan
al-Was.if
or
al-H.
asanb.
Was.if
led
themawlasinthead-
MaroazonChina,
theTurksandIndia(London,1942),p.
94;M.CanardinArabica
7 (1960):220.
216.
T,3:854.
217.TMaw,
pp.
325-26.
218.
Kh&lim:T,3:982.Abbasid
governor:
ibid.Abbasid
agent:
T,3:992-93.
219.
T,3:1020-21.
220.
BalCami,4:516
butnotT,3:1027.
221.T,3:136;FB,p.338.T,3:98
alsoidentifieshimasamawla.
222.FB,
p.
188.