Slave Soldiers and Islam_ The Genesis of a Military System - Daniel Pipes

168

Origins

tribethat

paid

them.Thecentral

government

disbursed

funds

tothetriballeaders,whointurndistributedthemto

members

ofthe tribe; withfew

exceptions,

mainly

thedescendants of

eminent

S.ah.

ba,Arabians(even

widowsandchildren)received

moneythrough

theirtribe.Until132/750,theMilitaryRegister

provided

a

mainstay

oftribal

power

and

privilegeagainst

out-

sidecontrol,anditallowedthe

tribesmento

preserve

theircohe-

sive

independence

from other elements of the

population.

Whenthe

government

triedto

replace

these

tribal

corps

with

other

troops

whose leaders,

allegiances,

and interests more

nearly

matcheditsown,

theArabiantribesmenresisteditwith

almosttotalsuccess.

Viewed

altogether,

thetribal

organization

ofthearmiesthat

carriedoutthe

greatconquests

and

its

preservationthrough

the

Military Register

meantthatthe central

government

did not

controlits

army.

Thisledtounusual

developments

whenthe

timecametorecruitnewsoldiers.

Arabian
TroopUnreliability
after

64/684. As

marginal

areasoldiers

par

excellence,

4

Arabians

rapidly

becameunreliable.

Precisely

according

tothe

pattern

sketchedin

chapter

3,in

the

60/680s,

about two

generations

afterthe

conquests

began, they

dete-

riorated,

grewunruly,

andno

longer

supplied

the

Umayyads

with

sufficient

troops.

Some settleddownintownsoronag-

riculturallands,whileothersremainedsoldiersinthe

pay

ofthe

government

but

provided

everlessloyal

and

dependable

ser-

vice.Thisdivisionhadageographicalaspect;many

Arabiansset-

tledinIraqandKhurasantoacquire

new

occupations

andinter-

ests,

whilethose

living

in

Syria

and

Jazira

generally

remained

soldiers.

4

In

Iraq

andKhurasantheArabiansdegeneratedmilitarily

de-

spite

strenuous governmental

efforts. Measures

designed

to

40.ThisviewcontrastswithD.R.Hill’sconclusionthat"the

fighting

coreof

the

armies

[in

thefirstArabian

conquests]

wasformedfromthesedentary

population

ofthetownsandoases"("TheRoleoftheCamel,"p.39).

41.Mason,p.201;Shaban,

Islamic

History,

1:122-25.Mason’sarticle

appears

tobethesourceofmany

ofShaban’smost

important

themes,

although

Shaban

nowherereferstoit.