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

186

Origins

AlthoughJuray.h

hadfinancialnotmilitary

duties,his

loyalty

sprang

fromthesamesourceasthatofthe

soldiers;heowedev-

erything

tohis master. Forthisreason, Ziyfid

b.Abihirecom-

mendedmawlastoMuCfiwiya

as"more

helpful,

more

forgiving,

andmoregrateful"

thanothers.

9

AttheBattleof

al-H.

arrain63/683,amawlaunitfighting

with

therebels

fought

in"asteadfast

and

courageous

manner,"while

someOftheirfreealliestreacherously

letthe

Umayyads

in.

91

Theloyaltyof

mawlas

may

havebeenshownatal-Mukhtfir’s

death

in67/687:

according

toDixon,"theCArabsdeserted

al-

Mukhtfiandtook

refuge

withtheirtribes,while

themawfilire-

mainedwithhimuntilhe

waskilled.

’’92

During

thewars

against

the Turkish

kh(qtn

in 110/728, amawla

gave

advice

tothe

Umayyad

leaders;whenone

person

doubted

his

word,saying,

"Verify

whathe

says,

forhecametoweakenyou,"

othersan-

swered,"Wewillnot,

forheisourmawlaandweknowhimfor

hisadvice.

’’93

Zayd

b.Ali’srebellionfailedin122/740;only

two

soldiers

stayed

with him to the bitter end, one of

them a

ghul[zm.

4

Similarly,

four

years

later,attheassassination

ofal-

WalidII,bothhiskh?tdims

andmawlasstood

loyallyby

the

caliph

untilhisdeath.

5

Inthelate120/740s,astheAbbasiddangergrew

inKhurasan,

the

Umayyadgovernor

there,

Na.sr

b.

Sayyfir,

sent

hismawla

Yazidtonegotiate

withAbfiMuslim.AbfiMuslimproposed

to

Yazid that he

join

the Abbasids, butYazid

returned to the

Umayyadcampdespite

thefavorableimpression

theAbbasid

movementhadmadeon

him.On

reporting

abouthismissionto

Nas.r

b.

Sayyfir,

Yazidrevealedthathewouldhavepreferred

to

stay

withtheAbbasidsandadded:"Wereyou

not

mypatron,

the

manwhomanumittedmeoutofslavery,

Iwouldnothavecome

90.AA,4a:23.

91.Kister,

p.

45.

92.Dixon,

p.

74 (thisassertiondoes

not

appear

tofollowfromthereferences

Dixoncites).

93.T,2:1517.

94.

T,2:t709.

95.Khfidims:T,2:1801.Mawlas:T,2:1809.