Chapter Five
The First
Military
Slave
System
Slavesandmawlas
foughtrightfromthebirthofIslam
through
to
205/820;
yet
the
manyexamplesgiven
in
chapter 2 makeit
clear thatthemerefactso
manyunfree
personsparticipated
in
battle does not mean that
aninstitution of
military slavery
existed.When
during
thefirsttwoIslamic
centuriesdidthemil-
itary
slave
systemoriginate?
Whendidthe
unfreemakethetran-
sition
from
ordinary
slavesto
military
slaves?To
place
military
slavery,
itis
necessary
tolookforitsattributes:
systematic
acqui-
sition,
organizedtraining,
and
professionalemployment.When
these
characteristicsexisted
simultaneously
and
slavesdidcom-
monlyfight, military
slavery
had
presumablydeveloped.
Of
thesethree
requirements, themostinformationexistsforac-
quisition
ofslavesin
early
Islam.
Systematic
Acquisition
TheArabianPeriod
As
theMuslimswon
great
victoriesfrom2/624to
132/750,they
acquired
vastnumbers
ofslaves--so
many
thatno
special
efforts
wereneededto
acquire
them.
TheProphethimselfhadabout 70
slaves, a
verylargeholding
inArabia.
SubsequentMuslimlead-
ers amassed far
greater
numbersofslaves, however.
Caliph
1.This
figure
derivesfroma
tally
fromUsd
al-Gtbaandothersources.
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