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

HowMilitarySlavery

First

Occurred 191

Carffs

(captains).

122

Yet

again

inCentral

Asia,thegovernorsent

an

expeditionagainst

Khuttalin119/737,andamawlaledthe

mawlas.

123

Just

beforehisfinaldefeat,Marwfin IIin

132/750

beatarebelforce

opposing

himinEgypt,

apparently

aninde-

pendent

mawla

corps

led

by

amawla?

24

AscAbd

ar-Rah,

mfinb.

MuCwiya

fledto

Spain

in136/754,hismawlaBadrleda

corps

of

cAbdar-Rah,mn’smawlason
campaign.

15

Somemawla

corps

even

had names, cAbd

al-Malik’s mawla

Wad.d.ah.

led the

Wa.d.di.hfya;subsequently

Wa.d.dfi.h’s

son ledit.

12

The Dhak-

winfya

hadbothamawlaleaderandmawla

troops?

z7

Examples

of

separatecorps

ofunfree

troops

aremuchless

commoninthefirstAbbasid

period.

A1-Mans.fir’s

fatherhada

corpscalled

the

Sharawiyawhichconsistedofmawla

troops.2s

A

commanderwho

mayhavebeena

wa.sf

led mawlasonanex-

pedition

toAnkarain 159/776.

lz9

Finally,

in

200/816,

anAb-

basid mawla led

Abbasid slaves in Mecca

against

the rebel

Abfi’s-Sary?

3

Slavesandmawlaswho

fought

before198/813sharedseveral

importantqualities

with

military

slaves:

they

came

mostly

from

marginal

areas, demonstrated

outstandingloyalty,

and

fought

separatelyfromothersoldiers.Inthesesame

ways,they

differed

fromtheusual

pattern

of

ordinary

slavesinwarfare

(outlinedin

chapters 1 and2).Thusthey

provided

thevital

prototype

for

military

slavery. Buttheywereclearlynot

military

slaves,for

they

werenot

systematicallyacquired,

trainedfor

militarypur-

poses,

or

professionally employed?

3

Fighting

mawlas

of

the

122.T,2:1478.

123.2:1630.Thattheleader(Sa|mab.AbicAbdallth)wasamawlacomes

fromT,2:1934.

124.al-Kindi,p.96.

125.

BM,

2:41.

126.Wa.d.d

.h

amawla:thisisstatedintheCairoeditionof

a.t-Tabari

(10:449)

butIhavenotbeenabletoconfirm

it..Wad.d.t.h’s

sonledthe

Wad..dth.iya:T,

2:1893.Thereis

nothing

toindicatethatthesoldiersofthis

corps

weremawlas.

127.OntheDhakwmiya,

seen. 145 to

chap.

4.

128.

KB,

p.

243.

129.T,3:459;ITB,2:34.

130.T,3:992.

131.Thisisindicatedinchapter5.