Introduction
xxi
gaveuponthosetimesin1951: "Ourinformationis
severely
limitedinwhatconcernsthemamlfik
systemfromits
origins
to
1250.Itisdoubtfulthatthe
sourceswemustknowcanbeusedto
throwmuch
light
onthat
longperiod.
’’21
Hehasnot
changed
his
opinion
inthe
interveningyears.
2
This
study
dealsnot
onlywith
the
periodbefore 1250 c.E.,butwiththeearliest
part
ofit.
My
researchintothefirsttwoIslamic
centuriesconfirms
Ayalon’s
conclusion:thesourcesdonot
provide
enough
evidenceevento
posit
the
existenceofa
system,
muchlesstore-createit.Inorder
to
study
the
system,
therefore,Ihavehadto
postulate
itsexis-
tence;the
following
two
assumptionsserveasthebasisofthis
study:
1.
Whenever soldiers ofslave
origins
become adominant
militaryforce,
a
system
mustexist
to
acquire,
train,and
employ
them.Slavescantakeon
support,auxiliary,
or
emergency
roles
foran
army
inan
unorganizedway,
buttobecomea
major
inde-
pendentpower
they
mustbeused
systematically.
Thisisnota
theory
butan
assumption;
slaves
attained
predominantpower
in
manyIslamicate
dynasties
forwhichwehave
hardly
atraceof
a system.
3
Yet this
assumption
finds some confirmation
in
a
comparativereading
ofslave
systems.
In
particular,two
facts
support
it:whena
trainingprogramisknowntoexist,slaves
often
acquireoverwhelmingimportance(forexample,theAb-
basids under
al-MuCtaid, the
Seljuks,
Mamluks,
Ottomans,
TunisiaundertheBeys,andDarFur);outsideIslamdom,where
no
system
isknown
tohaveexisted,slavesnever
acquired
such
predominance.Althoughthesefactsdonot
logically
necessitate
thefirst
assumption,they
reinforce
my
beliefinitscorrectness.
- A
system
of
militaryslavery
mustexistatleast
thirtyyears
be-
fore
military
slaves
assert power.
Thirty years
marksthe
ap-
- D.
Ayalon,L’Esclavage
duMamelouk,
p.
II.
- Privatecommunication, 23
August
1975.
- Forexample,the
following
aresome
dynasties
founded
by
soldiersof
slave
origins
inthe
period
900-1100c.E.:
Simjurids,Ghaznavids, Kalbids,
Najahids,Tujibids,CAmirids,
Mujahidids,Jahwarids,Burids,
andtheShahsof
Armenia.Inaddition,Kffirtook
controloftheIkhshididdynastyandLu’lu’
eliminatedtheHamdanids.Inallofthesecaseswe
knowalmostnothingabout
the
existenceofa
military
slave
system.