HowMilitary
SlaveryFirstOccurred
175
byinstituting
a
new
MilitaryRegister
toparallel
theoldone.
nl
Ratherthan
listing
soldiersbytheir
tribalaffiliation(nasab),
the
newregister
listed "the names
ofthe soldiers, their
fathers’
names,andtheirvillages.
’’62
By
thuseliminatingany
reference
totribalgenealogy,
AbfiMuslimmade
it
possible
fornontribes-
men
to
join
the
army
asfull-fledged
soldierswithoutneeding
an
Arabian
patron.
Thetransitionfromtribal
to
geographic
Mili-
taryRegister
may
havetaken
place
gradually,
oa
TheAbbasids
did not
list
everyone
inthe
new
register
butfor
some
years
maintained
two
registers,
one
tribalandanother
geographic;
the
firstlistedtribalArabians
andthesecond,all
nontribal
persons.
WhentheAbbasids
cameto
power
theystoppedadding
names
tothetribalregister,allowing
itto
dwindleinsizethrough
natu-
ralattrition.
Directenrollment
ofnon-Arabiansinto
the
armygave
thema
new
political
and
social status. As full-fledged
soldiers, they
could
forthefirsttimeparticipate
inIslamicatesociety
ontheir
own
terms,
withoutan
Arabian
patron.
Thus,
an
apparently
minor
change
intheMilitaryRegister
affected
Islamicate
society
ina
very
fundamentalway:
Byaltering
the
key
fortheregistration
inthe
army
roll,
AbfiMus-
limenablednon-Arabsto
enlistinthe
army
onthesame
statusas
Arabs.This
wasa
revolutionary
act,whichlater
boredecisiveand
far-reaching
historical
consequences.
4
MilitarySupport
for
theAbbasid
Movement. Itusedtobethought
thatthe
Abbasids
represented
an
Iranianrevolt
against
Arabian
rule.
a5
Thisviewhasbeen
discredited,however,
andamore
61.
Its
popularity
amongmawlasmay
beseeninthefactthatthe
firsttwodi
rectorsoftheAbbasidMilitaryRegister
weremawlas:ADA,p.
216 +T,2:1968;
ADA,
p.
376.
62.T,2:1957,1969;
alsoIbn
al-Faqih,p.
315.
- Thefollowing
accountderivesentirely
fromSharon,Advent,
pp.
271-272.
NotealsoBiddle,
pp.
62-64.
- Sharon,"CAbbasid
daCwa,
p.
XXXV.
65.F.cUmar,
Tatn’Cat
ad-DaCwaal-CAbbya
98/716-132/749[Thenatureofthe
Abbasidcall](Beirut,
1389/1970),pp.86-90,
pre,
sentsa
history
ofthisidea.The
mostimportant
recent
explanationportrays
the
Abbasid
goal
asthe
"complete
assimilationofallmembersof
theMuslim
community"(Shaban,
CAbbsidRevolu-
tion,p.
168).Certainlymanyofthe
Abbasid
supporters
hadlessloftyaims,
but
their
precise
motivations
are
yet
littleunderstood.