158
Origins
introducing
themintotheIslamicate
polity.
Onthe
positive
side,
al-Qazwniquotes
Yah.
yb.Aktham’sstatementtothemamlks,
"Ifnotfor
you
wewouldnotbebelievers,"
meaning
thatthe
slaves had
kept
the Muslimssafe.Apparently
thisviewcon-
vinced
al-Ma’mntotakemamlksintohis
personal
service
(33).
Alsoonthepositiveside,Diyfib
al-Iklidi
reports
that
al-MuCtaim
wasknownasthesecondfounderoftheAbbasid
Kingdom
be-
causetheservileTurks
rejuvenated
the
army(27).
A
majority
ofwriters
regard
theTurks
negatively.
At.-Tabari
recordsanantislave
pointof
view.
A1-MuCta.sim
askedone
of
his
top
counselors, afreeman
placed
in a
high positionby
al-
Ma’mCln,
why
al-Ma’mfinsucceededin
finding
first-rateaides
while
al-MuCta.sim
failedatthis.Thecounseloranswers
ellipti-
cally
thatal-Ma’mfin
madeuseofsociallyrespectablemen(he
"consideredtheroots andthe
branchesflourished"),
while
al-MuCta.sim
didnot
(he
"usedbrancheswhichdidnotflourish
because
they
hadno
roots"---28).
Thebiasofthis
reply
becomes
apparent
when one realizes thatthe men
who
are
claimed
to havefailed
al-Mutaim
infact servedhim
superbly
over
decades.
IbnBadrfin
explains
thedeclineoftheAbbasid
dynasty
asa
resultofthe
power
of%bds,theTurkish
military
slaves(17).Ibn
Khaldn
similarlyexplains
theriftbetweenthe
dignity
ofthe
caliphate
andthe
power
ofnon-Arabian
military
commanders
bytheintroductionoftheTurkishmawlas
(18).A1-Maqrizi,
who
livedundera
dynasty
ofTurkishandother
military
slave-rulers,
ruefully
notes thatafter
al-Mutas.im’s
time, "Turks
(against
whom the
Prophet
calledusto
fight)
becametherulersofthe
[Muslim]
kingdoms"(23).
Indeed,as
long
as
al-Muta.sim
andhis
son
al-Wthiq
ruled,theslaves
obeyed;
subsequently,theytook
overtherulethemselves(17,22).
The
findings
ofthis
chaptergenerally
confirmtheestablished
notion
that
al-Muta.simbeganusingmilitary
slavesforthefirst
time,
though
Iascribetheinitiativetohisbrotheral-Ma’mfin.
Having
locatedanddescribedthefirst
military
slave
institution,
itremainsnowto
provide
an
explanation
howit
developed
when
and
whereitdid.