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

180

Origins

spring

of

marginal

areasoldierswhobothsettleandbecome

unruly.

In

contrast,al-Ma’mfinreliedonnew

troops.Disposedtobe

anti-Arabian,

81

he

acquired

soldiers

during

thecivilwarfrom

Khurasan,

Transoxiana,

and

"perhapsevenbeyond.

’’82

Bythe

termsoftheMeccanaccordsworkedoutin186/802

(atthebe-

hestoftheirfatherHfirtan

ar-Rashd),

al-Amfn

agreed

toletal-

Ma’mfiruletheeasternhalfoftheAbbasid

empire.

It

appears

thatal-Ma’mfin

actually

took

controlofhisterritoriesfive

years

later,in191/807,whenhewas

twentyyearsold.Henceforth,al-

mostallhis

support

camefromtheeastern

regionsandfrom

Khurasanin

particular.

A1-Ma’mfin

didnotcontrolhis

army

di-

rectly;rather,

hetookinto

hisserviceanumberof

strong

local

figures(forexample,
Thir

b.

Talh.

aandHarthamab.

Aeyan)

whocouldcall
uponthe
loyalties

oftheKhurasaniandCentral

Asiansoldiers.

83

Recruitment
of

Military

Slaves,

198-205/814-20.

Atthecloseof

thecivil

war,

al-Ma’mfinfoundhimself

in

the

following

circum-

stances:

despite

his

conquest

of western

Iran,

the

strong

animosity

ofthe

populace

of

Baghdad

andits

region

toward

al-Ma’mtan inducedhim to

stay

in theeast. Heremained in

Khurasan for anothersix

years,

until204/819,

during

which

timeMervservedaseffective

capital

oftheAbbasid

empire.

Afterhis

victory

inthecivilwar,al-Ma’m6nhadevenlessdi-

rectcontroloverhis

army

than

previously.

The

top

generalshe

had

employedduring

thewarreceivedsubstantialrewards

for

theirservicesand

gained

in

power.

Once

again,

asunderthe

Umayyads,

thecentral

government

didnot

directly

controlits

decentralized

army. Ifal-Ma’mfinwereto

solidify

hisrule,he

hadtobuild

upcorpsloyal

tohimselfanddiminish

his

depend-

enceontheKhurasani
generals.

A1-Ma’mfinsawthedescendantsofearlier

marginal

area

sol-

diers

collapse

when

fighting

foral-Amin.Whateverotherrea-

sonshe
might

havehadfor

seeking

outnew

troops,

the

experi-

enceofthecivilwarconfirmedthis
undertaking.Forthesecond

timeinIslamic
history,

aMuslimrulerneededfresh

marginal

81.Ibid.,pp.22-23;Tayffir,pp.266-67;T,3:1142.

82.

Ayalon,

"Reforms,"

p.

5.

83.

FB,p.431.