TheUnfreeinMuslimWarfare,
2-205/624-820 139
vance
guardagainst
Ankara
in 159/776.
2
Rabi
b. Yfinis,a
mawlaandoneofthemostrenownedfigures
ofthefirstAbbasid
period,accompanied
Hfirfinar-Rashid
onan
expeditionagainst
Byzantium
in
165/782.
24
Aboutthatsametime,the
prominent
AbbasidleaderCsfi
b.CAlileda
corps
ofhismawlastoMarash
where
theyjoined
thelocal
populace
infighting
the
Byzantines;
eight
ofthemawlas
losttheir livesinbattle.
2
Then nearly
twenty-five
years passed
before mawlas
again
fought
the
Byzantines;
in 189/805 a mawla led 30,000 murtaziqa (paid
troops)
anda
year
laterMasrfiral-Khfidim
alsoled
troops.
6
Theunfree
fought
often
and
performedimportant
dutiesbe-
fore
al-Mutas.im’s
reign;
isthisreasontobelieve
that
military
slavery
existedbeforehistime?
Thenext
chapter
takes
up
this
question.
223.T,3:459;ITB,2:34.
224.T,3:503.
225.FB,p.
189.
226.Mawla:Tanln-h,p.189.
Masrfir:TMaw,p.309.