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

xxvi

Introduction

geographies,

financialbooks

(on

taxes,amwl,etc.),

miscellane-

ous

collectionsof

songs,

treasures,historical

tales,andsoforth.

Terminology

A

glossary

attheendofthe

bookdefinesall

frequently

used

Arabicwordsaswellas

neologisms

and

specialusages.

Although

no friendto

jargon,

I

have

sacrificed somefamiliar

termsin

favorofaccuracy;

I

hopemy

termsare

benign.

Slaveandmilitary

slave

present

the

greatest

problems

inter-

minology

andwillbedcalt

withat

length

in

chapter

1.Slave

throughout

thisstudy

means"a

person

ofslaveorigins"regard-

lessofhissubsequent

status.Onecannottellif

heislaterfreein

law,infact,

orboth.This

specialusage

corresponds

totheuseof

slave inMuslimvernaculars. A"military

slave" isa

person

of

slave

origins

whoundergoesacquisition

ina

systematic

manner,

followed

bytraining

and

employment

asasoldier. Thisterm

doesnot

apply

toallslaveswhofight

in

wars,

but

only

tothose

whoselivesrevolvearoundmilitary

service.The

military

slave

keeps

this

appellation

evenafterheattains

legal

orrealfreedom.

"Militaryslavery"

isthe

system

which

acquires,prepares,

and

employsmilitary

slaves.

’Abdand

raqfq

aretranslatedintoEnglish

as"slave"whileother

comparable

Arabicterms(ghulgzm,

khadim,mamlk,

mawl&

wod.f,

andso

on)usually

remainuntranslated.

Appendix

1 shows

that

alltheseterms

hadthesame

meaning

inearly

Islam.Because

mawlgz

occursso

very

often,itisnot

italicized.

M. C.G.

Hodgson,

inthe

introductionto hismonumental

workThe

Venture

of

Islam,

suggests

anumber

of

neologisms

whichhavethevirtueof

precision

thoughthey

sometimeslack

elegance.

Iusesomeofthem

inthis

study.

"Islamic"refersto

the

religion

ofIslamand"Islamicate"

toitscivilization."Islamdom"

isthe"society

in

which

theMuslimsandtheirfaith

are

recog-

nizedasprevalent

and

socially

dominant";

28

butsince

military

slavery

andother

patterns

ofstatecraftprobably

didnotextend

28.Hodgson,1:58;

also1:95.