150 Origins
professionalism
of
military
slavesas
part
ofa
general
transition
from
tribalto
professional
warfare,fromwarriorstosoldiers.
Evidencefor
professionalemployment
beginning
circa
205/
820 is
strong;
fromthen,slavesserved
full-time,
received
regu-
lar
wages,
woredistinctive
clothing,
andlivedin
separatequar-
ters.
They
musthave
servedall
year
round, otherwiseslaves
couldnothavebecome
al-MuCta.sim’s
commanders,retinue,elite
guard,palacepolice
force
(8,9),governors(14),
and
bodyguard
(30:alsoal-Ma’mfin’s);andmuchlesscould
they
havebecome
the
"supportofthe
dynasty
andthe
mainstay
ofhismovement"
(10)
ordominatedhis
army(13,15).
Their
militaryimportance
canbe
gaugedby
the
prominent
role
theyplayed
inthewarfare
of
al-MuCta.sim’s
reign(on
this,more
below).Repeated
reference
toTurksintheservice
(khidma)
ofal-Ma’mfin
and
al-MuCta.sim
(6,
7,
14,20)emphasizes
their
long-term
dutiestothe
caliphs.
Thesetwo
caliphsdropped
Arabiansfromthe
MilitaryRegis-
ter(lh-w(zn
alJund;
29)and
simultaneously
enteredTurksontoit
forthefirsttime
(24,26).
A1-Maqrfzf
drawsan
explicit
connec-
tionbetweenthesetwo
events;
theArabianswereremoved
to
make
way
fortheTurks
(23).
Femaleslaves
acquired
for the
Turkswerealso
placed
onthe
register(KB,p.259);they,
like
themen,receivedfixedsalaries
(rizq),though
howmuchisnot
stated. The
70,000
mawlas
whomade up theregularly
paid
force
(murtaziqa)during
al-Mutas.im’scaliphate
(31)
wereun-
doubtedly
these same slaves.
5
In contrast, aCentral Asian
leaderwhowasnotaslavereceiveda
land-grant,
nota
salary
(43).
A1-Mutas.im
dressed his Turks
very finely: gold
and silk
brocade,
gold
andsilkbelts,
gold
collars,andotherornaments
(5,25,26,T,3:1169)not
only
madethemahandsome
sight
but
alsoservedto
distinguishthemfromother
troops.
Underthese
adornments,
they
wore a
government
uniform
(al-mulabbis
wa’z-zayyas-su’l.tnya;
8,
9).Clearly,
thesemusthavebeen
highly
prizedprofessionalsoldiers.
The
segregation
of Turks from other
troops
in
Samarra
provides
afinalindicationthat
they
were
military
slaves.The
50.Thenumber70,000isseveraltimesassociatedwithal-MuCtasim’sslaves:
14,18,19,33.