The
FirstMilitary
SlaveSystem 149
a
military
slavefrom
aboutthis
period,
thatof
Ah.
mad.b.
Tfdfin
(born
in
220/835),
4
emphasizes
not
militarytraining
butreli-
gious
instruction! "His
upbringing
was
unlikethatofa non-
Arabian,
TM
meaning
thathelearntthe Islamicsciences. Asa
consequence,although
A.hmad.
b.
Tfilfin
wasaTurk,he"de-
spised
theTurksandtheirsonswhorodeinthe
caliph’s
ser-
vice.
’’4
Despite
this
religious
emphasis,
it
isquitecertainthat
A.hmad
alsohada
military
education.
46
Useoftheword
..tana
Ca
provides
thatmostdefiniteindication
thatslavesunderwentanew,more
systematictraining
around
205/820.
Although
theword
wasused
occasionally
beforethis
time,
4r
it
appears
with
greater
frequency
in
descriptions
ofal-
MuCtas.im’s
Turks,
aswellasothersofthattime.WithForand,I
understandthisverbtomean"totrain,educate,
discipline,
rear
orfoster
(someone)
fora
particularpurpose.
’’4s
Ihavefound
fourreferencestothe
#.tinz
of
groups(1,5,11,44)
andthreeto
individuals
(24,
T,3:1316,MDh,
4:61).
49
The
proliferation
of
thisterm
maysignal
theexistenceofanew
procedure
fortrain-
ing
slaves.This
impression
isconfirmedbythe
report
thatitwas
mostlyyouths
whounderwenttraining(44).
ProfessionalEmployment
Inearliertimes,noMuslims,notevenArabians,fought
as
pro-
fessionalsoldiers,sotheunfreecouldhardly
havebeenmore
professional
thantheir
patrons.
Theslaveormawlawas
typically
a
personal
retainertohis
patron
and
fought
inthat
capacity.
Only
when thefreesoldiersbecame
professional
inthe first
Abbasid
periodcouldtheunfree
followsuit.One
may
viewthe
43.al-Balawi,
p.
38,callshim
the
ghulfim
of
Caliph
al-Mustacin
(r.
248-52/
862-66),
but
clearly
hewastheslaveofearlier
caliphs
too,hisfatherhavingbeen
theslaveofal-Ma’mtan
(39).
44.al-Balawi,
p.
34.
45.ITB,3:4.
46.Z.M.Hassan,Les
Tulunides
(Paris,
1933),
p.
28.
47.T,2:1920,3:l18;AM,p.
88.
48.Forand,
"Development,"p.
70.
49.Notealso:
al-Qalqashandi,
3:504;az-Zubayr,p.
567.