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

182

Origins

HowFighting

MawlasForeshadowedMilitarySlaves

Militaryslavery

didnot

appear

exnihilo

in

al-Ma’mfin’stime;

twocenturiesofslaves

fighting

madethenotionofmilitary

slav-

ery

accessible.Butthis

wasnot

enough,

forslaveshaveoften

fought

withoutits

leading

tothe

development

ofa

military

slave

system;something

morewas

necessary.

What

beyond

themere

presense

ofslavesin warfare made

military slavery possible?

Mawlas.

85

Themawlaswho

fought

forthe

early

Muslimsshared

with

military

slavesseveralcrucialfeatures--featuresnot

usually

found

among

theunfree inwarfare:

ease of

acquisition,

cer-

tainty

ofcontrol,and

theformationof

separatecorps,

s6

This

discussionconcentrates

onmawlasratherthanslaves,for

they

played

a

larger

andmore

consequentialmilitary

roleinearly

Muslimarmies.

Acquisition

Like

military

slaves,mostunfreesoldierscamefrommarginal

areas.

Although

thesourcesidentify

theethnic

origins

of

only

a fewofthem,

adistinct

pattern emerges

when one tallies

the distinct

times an ethnic affiliation of unfree

soldiers is

mentioned.

87

85.

Ayalon

makesthis

point,

too:"TheriseoftheMaw6landtheeunuchsin

thecAbbfisid

court..,

paved

the

way

totheintroductionoftheMamluksasa

majormilitary

force"("Reforms,"

p.

25).Hedoesnot,however,provideevi-

denceforthisassertion.

86.Themawla

statushad

importance

inother

ways,

too:

(a)

theAbbasids

called

their

agents"mawlas,"

and

(b)

theconfusionbetweenslaveandfreemaw-

las

opened

doorstotheformer(Vtoten,p.13,alsonotesthis).

87.eAjam:MDh,3:259.

Berber:NT,

1:141

159;

Ibn

al-Qfit.iya,p.31;FM,p.214;TMaw,p.72;

TYa%2:413;

Tanbh,

p.

189;and

probably.Tfiriq

b.

Ziyfid(see

note

112

to

chap-

ter

4).

Black:

Wa.hshi(Appendix,

note5);UG,1:206;IS,3:1.34,7:1.94andAA,

1:489;al-Wfiqidi, 649 700;

al-Jfi.hi.z,

Fakhr,1:180(twobesides

Wah.shi),

181,

193;

FM,

p.66;

UA,

1:180;

T,1:1780,

2:530,

851

(=AA,5:364),3:265-71,305,

950,992,1027;AA,1:479,5:98

(=

Imma,

1:44),

298,360-61;Ibn

Muzfih.

im,

p.

276

(=

T,1:3307);NT,1:165;TMaw,p. 149 (=al-Maqrizi,an-Nizdc,

p.

55),al-

Azraqi,p.

194;BM,1:101;IbnACtham,

p.

26;

al-Maqdisi,

6:36;Imgma,1:36-37;

UH,3:365

(=Miskawayh,p.

456);FB,

p.

234.Formoreinformationonthese,

see

my

forthcoming"BlackSoldiersinEarlyMuslimArmies,"

International

Jour-

nal
ofAfrican

HistoricalStudies 13

(1980):87-94.