How
Military
SlaveryFirstOccurred 173
the
time.
Althoughonly
humbleauxiliaries,
theyfought
often
andin
large
numbers.The factthatevenfreenon-Arabians
fought
asmawlasdidmuchto
perpetuate
Arabiansupremacy,
forasmawlasthey
provided
serviceson
highly
favorableterms.
When free
non-Arabian Muslims
accepted
subservient, even
servile,
positions,they
forfeitedachanceto
gain
power
ontheir
own.Had
they
heldoutforbetterterms,
the
Arabians
would
havefaced
severe
shortages
ofsoldiersand
might
wellhave
madeconcessions
to
gain
theirassistance.
Byacceptingemploy-
mentoninferiorterms, the freemawlas contributed to the
maintenanceofArabianruleandprivilege.
Thetransitionfrom
Arabian armipotence (13-64/634-84)
to Arabian
hegemony
(64-132/684-750)
indicatedArabian,notmawla,
strength.
InviewoftheIslamicate
patternsuggested
inchapter3,
en-
rollmentofmawlasinthe
period
after
64/684hastwo
irregular
features. First,
individualsoldiersandtheirtriballeaders,not
thecentral
government,
recruitedthesenewsoldiers; thiswas
notamatterof
preference,
butwas
due
to
thefactthatthecen-
tral
government
lacked
the
authority
to
bring
insoldiersonits
own.Second,
the
new
soldierswereMuslimsand
subjects,
not
aliensfrom
beyond
the
empire’s
boundaries.Eveniftheydid
notenjoy
the
privileges
oftheArabians,mawlaswere Muslims
participating
inthe
army,
andthisanomalyrequiresexplana-
tion.Perhapsthespecial
conditionsof
early
Muslim
society
ex-
plain
it;
atthistime,mostwarfarewas
stillfihgd,
sothatMuslims
hadreasonto
join
thearmedforces.Also,inMarwanidtimes,
Muslimsconstituted
only
a
tinyportion
ofthe
population
ruled
by
theUmayyads;according
toastatistical
analysis
ofnames
by
RichardW.
Bulliet,
in64/684Muslimsmade
up
3 to 4
percent
of
the
population
inTunisia,Egypt,Syria,Iraq,
andIran. Sucha
small
minority
could
not
possibly
feelsecure
enough
towith-
drawfrom
public
affairs.Even
though
Muslimswieldedenor-
mous
power,
theirholdwastoo
shaky
forthemto
relinquish
itto
others.
The first time Muslim
rulersneeded to
replace
unreliable
marginal
areasoldiers,they
turnedtotheiroutsider
subjects
and
60.Bulliet,pp.
97,
109,
83,44.