Introduction xxiii
guish
afunction
unique
toMuslims.Forreasonsrelatedtothe
nature
of
the
Islamicate
political order,
Muslims
depended
heavily
ona
foreignsoldiery
fromremoteareas;asaresultof
this
dependence,
Muslims aloneneededtoinstitutionalizeits
use;
militaryslavery
servedasamechanismtoacquireand
con-
trolsuchsoldiers.
PartIIfillsamuchsmaller
canvas,investigating
thedateand
circumstancesofthefirst
military
slave
system.Chapter
4 doc-
umentstheMuslimuseofunfree
persons
inwarfrom
Mu.ham-
mad’s time until 205/820,
establishing
thatthey fought
fre-
quently. Using
the
distinguishing
traits of
military
slaves as
previously
defined,
chapter
5
argues
thattheirfirstappearance
camenotbefore198-205/814-20and
analyzes
theavailablein-
formationontheminthis
period.
The finalchapterexplains
howthis
initial
development
of
militaryslavery
occurred;anun-
usual
methodof
using
slavesandfreenon-Arabianconvertsto
Islaminthe
period
64-132/684-750
provided
a
prototype
for
the
systematic
useofslaveslateron.
The
wide-ranging
discussion
in
part
Iis
indispensable
forthe
detailed
inquiry
intothe
origins
of
militaryslavery:
definitionof
the institution in
chapter
makes
possible
the
dating
and
identificationofitsfirst
appearance
in
chapter
5;and
interpre-
tationofitsfirstoccurrence
in
chapter
6
requires
theunder-
standing
ofitsrationaleproposed
in
chapter
3.
Historiography
Along
withmost
historians,
I am
skeptical
ofthe
veracity
or
accuracy
oftheinformation
dealing
withthefirst
sixtyyears
of
Islamicatelife.It
appears
thata
majorreediting
of
theIslamic
past
took
placeduring
cAbdal-Malik’sreign(an
idea
put
for-
ward
byGoldziherforthe.hath,
Lammensforthesralitera-
ture,
Nothforhistorical
writing,
andCroneandCookforthe
entireIslamic
tradition).
24
Almostallhistorical
informationon
24.I.Goldziher,MuhammedanischeStudien,2:3-87.
OnLammens,seethedis-
cussioninK.S.Salibi,"IslamandSyriain
the
Writings
ofHenriLammens,"
H/s-
torians
of
theMiddle
East,
ed.B.LewisandP.M.Holt
(London,1962),pp.
330-42.