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

Appendix 5

213

38. Ibn Khallikn (681/1282):

Ibn

Tfilfin’s

"father was a

mamlk

given

toal-Ma’mfinbyNfi.h

b.Asadthe

Samanid,the

governor

of

Bukhara.

Tfilfin

wasoneofa

group

of

raqqs

taken

toal-Ma’mfin

in200/816.

Tfilfin

diedin

240/854"

(Wafayt

al-

ACyn,1:173).

39. Ibn

al-qbri

(1286):

"T51fin

wasaTurkish

mamlkofal-

Ma’mSn"(al-Mukhtaar,p.147).

40. Ibn
    Taghri

Birdi

(874/1469):

Ibn

.Tfilfin’s

"fatherwas

Tfilfin,

themawlof

Nfih.

b.Asad

b.SmntheSamanid,the

governor

ofBukharaand

Khurasan.

Nfih.

gave

him,in

a

group

ofmamlks,toal-Ma’mfin

b.ar-Rashid,whoraised

him until

.Tfilfin

becameoneoftheamirs"(an-Nujm,3:1).

IV. NoSlavery

Mentioned

41. A1-Balfidhfiri
    (279/892):

"AI-Ma’mfinusedtowritetohis

governors

ofKhurasan

to raidthose

peoples

of

Transoxiana

whohadnotsubmittedtoIslam.Healso

used

to

send

envoys

[there]

toenrollthosewhowerewilling[to

convert] ontothe

MilitaryRegister

[i.e.

they

became

soldiersforthe

caliph

when

they

becameMuslims].

Hewantedtoenrollboththe

people

and

the

princes

of

these

parts,

sohetreatedthemwell;whenthey

cametohim,hehonoredandfavoredthem.

"When

al-MuCta.sim

becamecaliph,

hedidthesametothe

point

thatmostofhismilitary

leaderscamefromTransoxiana:

Soghdians, Farghanians,

Ushrusanians,

peoples

of

Shash,and

others. [Even]

their

kings

cametohim.Islam spreadamong

thosewholivedthere,so

theybegan

raiding

theTurkswho

lived

beyond

them"(FB,

p.

341).

42. Michael(1199):

"Heset

troops

tocombatthe

Zugwho

livedonthelakesintowhich the

Euphrates

and

Tigrisspill;

these

people

wereeverinrevoltandmolested

the

king

But

the

governmenttroops

could donothingagainst

them,

since

theyfought

inboats.Sothe

king[al-MuCta.sim]

sent

against

them

Egyptiancaptives

thathehad

brought

from

Egypt.They

were

usedtowaterandswamlikefish.[TheEgyptianssubsequently

beattheZug.]Whenthe

king

saw

the

Egyptians’

brilliant

featsof

armsincombat

against

theZug,

helikedthemandtook

anum-