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

How

MilitarySlavery

First

Occurred

187

backto

you,

butwouldhave

stayedwiththem.

’’96

The

power

of

thebondofmanumissioncannotbe

moreclearlystated.

"MarwfinII,whenall

hope

waslost,advisedCAbd

al-.hamfd,

his

secretary[and

a

mawla]fl

7

to

join

theAbbasidswhowould

valuehisskillandinwhose

servicehemightdo

something

for

Marwn.The

secretary

refusedtoleavehis

master,

’’s

losing

his

lifeasa

consequence.

Inan

interestingparallel,

two

great

adventurers

escapedper-

secutionintheMuslimEast

byfleeing

totheWestand

estab-

lishing an

independent dynasty

there: CAbd

ar-Rah,

mfin b.

MuCfiwiya

foundedthe

Umayyaddynasty

of

Spain

andIdrsb.

cAbdallfihfoundedtheIdrisids.
Bothofthemreceivedvitalas-

sistancefromaslaveretainerwho

faithfullyaccompaniedthem

througheverytribulation;asreward,

they

both

acquiredgreat

power,

cAbd

ar-Rah,mfinfledthedestructionofthe

Umayyad

family

in132/750andmadehis

way

to

Spain,oftenin

disguise,

withthe

help

ofhismawlaBadr.

9

WhencAbd

ar-Rah,mfin

rose

to

power

in

Spain,

Badrbecamean

important

official.

1

In

a

very

similar

manner,

whenIdris

fleddefeatat theBattle of

Fakhkhin

169/786,

hefled

toMorocco

ith

hismawlaRfishid.

TM

Idrisdiedin177/786andRshidserved

as

regent

forhis

post-

humousson,

ruling

Moroccountilhisowndeathin186/8027

2

(Itmightbenotedthatthefirst

regent

inIslamicate

history

was

thusaman

ofslave

origins.)

13

Inbothofthesecases,theex-

96.

T,2:1959.

97.Thathewasamawla:T,

2:839;UH,3:205;IbnKhallikn,

3:228-32;Jah,

p.

72.

98.A.S.Tritton,

"Sidelights

onMuslim

History,"Bulletin

of

theSchool

of

Orientaland

African

Studies 21 (1958):464,

paraphrasing

the

anonymous,unpub-

lishedmirror

for

princes,

"Adabal-Mul6k

wa-Nas.fi’i

.hhum,"

folio

32a.

99.

BM,2:41;AM,

p.

67.

100.BM,

2:53;AM,pp.102,103,107.

101. Ibnal-Abbr,1:98-99.

102.Rfishidas

regent:

Ibnal-Abbftr,1:53.Rshid

holdingother

important

positions:
ar-Raqiq,p.

214.

103.

Itisworth

noting

thatmuchearlier,in6/627,Mu

.hammad

leftfor

araid

on
al-Muraysi

and

placedthemawlaZaydb.

H.

arithain

charge

ofMedinadur-

ing

hisabsence

(IS,3:1.31).