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

184

Origins

Control

TheArabiancontrolofmawlasin

military

servicebore

a

striking

resemblancetothe

subsequent

controlofmilitary

slaves.Some

ofthesimilaritiesincluded:

1. Identificationwith

the

patron.

TheArabiansdiscovereda

method

toinducediversenon-Arabiansto

relinquish

their

prior

allegiances,throughslavery

orconversionor

both. Mawlasin

military

service, likemilitary slaves,

subordinated their own

interests,lostthem,

orwerechosensothat

they

hadnone.

They

couldbe

slavesor

not;

more

important

thanthat,theArabians

exercisedcontroloverthemost

vitaldecisionsintheirlives.Al-

though they

could

become

powerfulfigures,

mawlasdid not

control theirown livesfor some years

after

joining

Muslim

society.

2.

Lowsocial

standing.

Mawlas

occupied

thelowest

socialcat-

egory

andhadthe

opportunity

toriseto

positions

of

importance

and

responsibility.

Theirlowsocial

standing

servedtoeliminate

competingallegiances.

Evenfreemawlas,whowerenotofslave

origins,

foundthemselvesatthebottomof

Muslim

society.

Since

contemporaries

oftencouldnot

distinguish

betweenmawlasof

slaveandoffree

origins,

they

viewedallmawlasasfreedslaves,

even

whenthatwasnotthecase. Thelow social

standing

of

mawlasalsomadethemmoremalleable.Withouta

position

of

theirown,

they

associatedthemselveswholeheartedly

withtheir

patron,

whodidhavea

position

andwhoalonecould

provide

themwith

the

possibility

ofadvancement.

They

couldachieve

nothing

ontheirown,so

they

committedthemselvestotally

to

serving

their

patron.

Theirhumblestation

madethisidentifica-

tionofinterestsoftencomplete.

3.

Isolation.

Themawlain

military

servicefoundhimselfliv-

ing

ina

foreign

cultureand

having

tomakehis

wayamong

alien

conquerors.

Until132/750the

gap

betweenArabiansand

their

subjects

wasthatbetweentwodifferentcultures.Conversionto

Islamcutthemawlaofffromhisown

people

without

binding

himtothe

society

ofArabians; itlefthim

atthe

mercy

ofhis

patron.

Conversionwas

irreversible

too;apostasy

fromIslamis

punishableby

death,so

oncecommittedthemawlahadnoes-

cape.

Hisisolationfurtheredthe

controlthe

patron

exercised.