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

178

Origins

they

had

inheritedfromthe

Ummayads.Very

quickly

afterthe

Abbasidtakeover,

Muslimsbroke

away

from

the

caliph’s

control,

beginning

a

process

which

continuedtbrovertwo

centuries;the

Abbasids

steadily

lost territories

untilthetimewhen

theyfell

under

Buyidcontrolin

334/945.

Between132/750

and205/820

a

region

broke

awayfromAbbasidcontrol

approximatelyevery

five

years:

72

Date Name

Place

135/753

Julandids

Oman

138/756

Spanish

Umayyads Spain

140/757

Nafusa Western

Algeria

155/772

Miknasa

(Midrarids) Morocco

160/777

Rustamids

Western

Algeria

167/784

Sayfawa Kanem

172/789

Idrisids

Morocco

184/800

Aghlabids Tunisia

204/819

Samanids

Khurasan&

Yransoxiana

204/820

Ziyadids Yemen

205/821

Tahirids

73

Khurasan

210/825

Dulafids

Kurdistan

Why

were

theAbbasidsunabletomaintain

Muslim

expansion

and

unity?They

had

underminedthetribaltiesand

failedtore-

placethemwithnewbonds;

also,theyinsistedtoo

strenuously

on

submission,

repulsingmanywhocouldhavetoleratedmore

lenient

arrangements.

74

WhentheAbbasids

detrihalized

military

pay,

theyopenedthe

way

toamoredevoted

army,

butinthe

long

run

theylostaholdoverthe

tribalArabians.TheAbbasids

didnotfinda

waytobindthose

tribesmentothemselvesafter

72.

Informationonmostofthese

dynastiescomesfromE.de

Zambaur,

Man-

uelde
Genealogieetde
Chronologiepour

l’histoire

del’Islam(Hanover,

Germany,

1927).This

extraordinarilyvaluablebook

deservestobebetterknownandfar

more

widely

consulted.

73.To

appreciatehow

totally

theabove

dynastiesare

ignored,

notethis

statement: "It

isusualto

begin

thelistof

independent

dynasties

withthe

.Tfihirids"(Grunebaum,

Classical

Islam,

p.

106).

74.Bulliet,

p.

86,

offersanother

explanation:

"Whenever

Islam’ssurvival

came
tobetakenfor
granted,

the

caliph’s

underlying

sourceof

authorityevapo-

rated."
Seealsoibid.,
p.

129.